Viral

Viral is a tiny, pure prototypal OO library for javascript; taking the best parts of boo.

Why

The most consistent, easiest way to OO in javascript is pure prototypally - and Viral makes this a snap (and packs a tiny punch in the process - < 0.5kb minified).

API

Viral is a simple base object with two methods:

.extend

.extend creates an object that inherits from the object on which it's called, and copies any properties passed to .extend into that new object:

var Person = Viral.extend({
	init: function(firstName, lastName){
		this.firstName = firstName
		this.lastName = lastName
	},
	fullName: function(){ return this.firstName + this.lastName }
})

// extend is inherited by Person, so we can extend further:
var Coder = Person.extend({
	likesCode: true
})

Because Viral uses pure prototypal inheritance - objects inheriting directly from objects - Coder and Person are just objects like any other:

console.log(Person)

//  {
//  	init: [Function],
//  	fullName: [Function]
//  }

console.log(Coder)

//  {
//  	init: [Function],
//  	fullName: [Function],
//  	likesCode: true
//  }

.make

.make creates an object that inherits from the object on which it's called, and calls the init method of this new object with any arguments you pass in.

// using Coder from the above example:
var hugh = Coder.make('hugh', 'jackson')

hugh.fullName() //= 'hugh jackson'
hugh.likesCode  //= true

Install

node

npm install viral, then require:

var Viral = require('viral')

// use `Viral` here

browser

include as a script tag:

<!doctype html>
<html>
	<head></head>
	<body>
		<script src="libs/viral.min.js"></script>
		<script>
		// use `Viral` here
		</script>
	</body>
</html>

requirejs

include as a script. e.g., from the libs/ folder:

require(['libs/viral.min'], function(Viral){
	// use `Viral` here
})

hughfdjackson / viral