JS Clean Code - SOLID principles
Information drawn from
SOLID
Single Responsibility Principle (SRP)
As stated in Clean Code, “There should never be more than one reason for a class to change”. It’s tempting to jam-pack a class with a lot of functionality, like when you can only take one suitcase on your flight. The issue with this is that your class won’t be conceptually cohesive and it will give it many reasons to change. Minimizing the amount of times you need to change a class is important. It’s important because if too much functionality is in one class and you modify a piece of it, it can be difficult to understand how that will affect other dependent modules in your codebase.
Bad:
class UserSettings {
constructor(user) {
this.user = user;
}
changeSettings(settings) {
if (this.verifyCredentials()) {
// ...
}
}
verifyCredentials() {
// ...
}
}
Good:
class UserAuth {
constructor(user) {
this.user = user;
}
verifyCredentials() {
// ...
}
}
class UserSettings {
constructor(user) {
this.user = user;
this.auth = new UserAuth(user);
}
changeSettings(settings) {
if (this.auth.verifyCredentials()) {
// ...
}
}
}
Open/Closed Principle (OCP)
As stated by Bertrand Meyer, “software entities (classes, modules, functions, etc.) should be open for extension, but closed for modification.” What does that mean though? This principle basically states that you should allow users to add new functionalities without changing existing code.
Bad:
class AjaxAdapter extends Adapter {
constructor() {
super();
this.name = "ajaxAdapter";
}
}
class NodeAdapter extends Adapter {
constructor() {
super();
this.name = "nodeAdapter";
}
}
class HttpRequester {
constructor(adapter) {
this.adapter = adapter;
}
fetch(url) {
if (this.adapter.name === "ajaxAdapter") {
return makeAjaxCall(url).then(response => {
// transform response and return
});
} else if (this.adapter.name === "nodeAdapter") {
return makeHttpCall(url).then(response => {
// transform response and return
});
}
}
}
function makeAjaxCall(url) {
// request and return promise
}
function makeHttpCall(url) {
// request and return promise
}
Good:
class AjaxAdapter extends Adapter {
constructor() {
super();
this.name = "ajaxAdapter";
}
request(url) {
// request and return promise
}
}
class NodeAdapter extends Adapter {
constructor() {
super();
this.name = "nodeAdapter";
}
request(url) {
// request and return promise
}
}
class HttpRequester {
constructor(adapter) {
this.adapter = adapter;
}
fetch(url) {
return this.adapter.request(url).then(response => {
// transform response and return
});
}
}
Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP)
This is a scary term for a very simple concept. It’s formally defined as “If S is a subtype of T, then objects of type T may be replaced with objects of type S (i.e., objects of type S may substitute objects of type T) without altering any of the desirable properties of that program (correctness, task performed, etc.).” That’s an even scarier definition.
The best explanation for this is if you have a parent class and a child class, then the base class and child class can be used interchangeably without getting incorrect results. This might still be confusing, so let’s take a look at the classic Square-Rectangle example. Mathematically, a square is a rectangle, but if you model it using the “is-a” relationship via inheritance, you quickly get into trouble.
Bad:
class Rectangle {
constructor() {
this.width = 0;
this.height = 0;
}
setColor(color) {
// ...
}
render(area) {
// ...
}
setWidth(width) {
this.width = width;
}
setHeight(height) {
this.height = height;
}
getArea() {
return this.width * this.height;
}
}
class Square extends Rectangle {
setWidth(width) {
this.width = width;
this.height = width;
}
setHeight(height) {
this.width = height;
this.height = height;
}
}
function renderLargeRectangles(rectangles) {
rectangles.forEach(rectangle => {
rectangle.setWidth(4);
rectangle.setHeight(5);
const area = rectangle.getArea(); // BAD: Returns 25 for Square. Should be 20.
rectangle.render(area);
});
}
const rectangles = [new Rectangle(), new Rectangle(), new Square()];
renderLargeRectangles(rectangles);
Good:
class Shape {
setColor(color) {
// ...
}
render(area) {
// ...
}
}
class Rectangle extends Shape {
constructor(width, height) {
super();
this.width = width;
this.height = height;
}
getArea() {
return this.width * this.height;
}
}
class Square extends Shape {
constructor(length) {
super();
this.length = length;
}
getArea() {
return this.length * this.length;
}
}
function renderLargeShapes(shapes) {
shapes.forEach(shape => {
const area = shape.getArea();
shape.render(area);
});
}
const shapes = [new Rectangle(4, 5), new Rectangle(4, 5), new Square(5)];
renderLargeShapes(shapes);
Interface Segregation Principle (ISP)
JavaScript doesn’t have interfaces so this principle doesn’t apply as strictly as others. However, it’s important and relevant even with JavaScript’s lack of type system.
ISP states that “Clients should not be forced to depend upon interfaces that they do not use.” Interfaces are implicit contracts in JavaScript because of duck typing.
A good example to look at that demonstrates this principle in JavaScript is for classes that require large settings objects. Not requiring clients to setup huge amounts of options is beneficial, because most of the time they won’t need all of the settings. Making them optional helps prevent having a “fat interface”.
Bad:
class DOMTraverser {
constructor(settings) {
this.settings = settings;
this.setup();
}
setup() {
this.rootNode = this.settings.rootNode;
this.settings.animationModule.setup();
}
traverse() {
// ...
}
}
const $ = new DOMTraverser({
rootNode: document.getElementsByTagName("body"),
animationModule() {} // Most of the time, we won't need to animate when traversing.
// ...
});
Good:
class DOMTraverser {
constructor(settings) {
this.settings = settings;
this.options = settings.options;
this.setup();
}
setup() {
this.rootNode = this.settings.rootNode;
this.setupOptions();
}
setupOptions() {
if (this.options.animationModule) {
// ...
}
}
traverse() {
// ...
}
}
const $ = new DOMTraverser({
rootNode: document.getElementsByTagName("body"),
options: {
animationModule() {}
}
});
Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP)
This principle states two essential things:
- High-level modules should not depend on low-level modules. Both should depend on abstractions.
- Abstractions should not depend upon details. Details should depend on abstractions.
This can be hard to understand at first, but if you’ve worked with AngularJS, you’ve seen an implementation of this principle in the form of Dependency Injection (DI). While they are not identical concepts, DIP keeps high-level modules from knowing the details of its low-level modules and setting them up. It can accomplish this through DI. A huge benefit of this is that it reduces the coupling between modules.
Coupling is a very bad development pattern because it makes your code hard to refactor.
As stated previously, JavaScript doesn’t have interfaces so the abstractions that are depended upon are implicit contracts. That is to say, the methods and properties that an object/class exposes to another object/class. In the example below, the implicit contract is that any Request module for an InventoryTracker will have a requestItems method.
Bad:
class InventoryRequester {
constructor() {
this.REQ_METHODS = ["HTTP"];
}
requestItem(item) {
// ...
}
}
class InventoryTracker {
constructor(items) {
this.items = items;
// BAD: We have created a dependency on a specific request implementation.
// We should just have requestItems depend on a request method: `request`
this.requester = new InventoryRequester();
}
requestItems() {
this.items.forEach(item => {
this.requester.requestItem(item);
});
}
}
const inventoryTracker = new InventoryTracker(["apples", "bananas"]);
inventoryTracker.requestItems();
Good:
class InventoryTracker {
constructor(items, requester) {
this.items = items;
this.requester = requester;
}
requestItems() {
this.items.forEach(item => {
this.requester.requestItem(item);
});
}
}
class InventoryRequesterV1 {
constructor() {
this.REQ_METHODS = ["HTTP"];
}
requestItem(item) {
// ...
}
}
class InventoryRequesterV2 {
constructor() {
this.REQ_METHODS = ["WS"];
}
requestItem(item) {
// ...
}
}
// By constructing our dependencies externally and injecting them, we can easily
// substitute our request module for a fancy new one that uses WebSockets.
const inventoryTracker = new InventoryTracker(
["apples", "bananas"],
new InventoryRequesterV2()
);
inventoryTracker.requestItems();
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Last update on 28 Nov 2021
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