JavaScript Magic Objects

[u/noeldemartin]

https://noeldemartin.com/blog/programming-patterns-magic-objects

I just published a blog post to my website about a pattern I've been using for a while that I think you will find interesting (and probably very divisive!): Magic Objects.

class Parrot extends MagicObject {
    __get(property) {
        return `${property}! ${property}!`;
    }
}

const parrot = new Parrot();

console.log(parrot.foo); // "foo! foo!"
console.log(parrot.bar); // "bar! bar!"

Basically, I'm borrowing the idea of Magic Methods from PHP and porting them to JavaScript. You've probably seen something like this done with proxies before, but I still like to use some OOP in my JavaScript, and I also came up with a way to make it work nicely with TypeScript.

It may seem a bit over the top at the beginning, but I've been using this for a while and I've found it very useful.

Let me know what you think!

[u/javascript]

Proxy Objects (getters and setters) have been around for a while but I've yet to come across a use case where they were the right choice. They tend to work more as an escape hatch.

[u/TheThingCreator → u/javascript]

In my opinion they are not useful in normal development, they are the right choice if you're building a framework and need reactivity basically. Even "magic methods" don't sound like the right choice unless you're making a framework. Using these kinds of things just adds ambiguity to your code but they are highly useful for framework development.

[u/javascript → u/TheThingCreator]

As a former library developer myself, agreed. Sometimes to make a truly generic interface, you need niche features. Glad they're available! But not a good default haha