On Sun, Oct 20, 2013 at 9:01 AM, Jonathan Barronville <
jonathan at belairlabs.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone.
>
> I have a proposal for ES6. I don't know if it's been discussed before, so
> if it has, I don't mean to waste your time … hopefully, I'll be directed to
> the right place.
>
> One of the most debated JavaScript topics (at least in my experience) is
> whether or not one should modify objects that don't belong to them ... some
> say it's okay if you "know what you're doing" and others see it as a crime.
>
> I propose we solve this problem by adding "refinements" to ES6. Ruby
> v2.0.0 introduced a nice little feature dubbed "refinements". Refinements
> allow you to extend other objects for specific modules of code. I know this
> isn't a Ruby mailing list, but because the inspiration comes from the Ruby
> implementation, an example is in order (feel free to ignore it).
>
> Say you want to modify the `to_str()` method in the built-in String class
> in Ruby, the common way to do this is as follows.
>
> ```ruby
> class String
>   def to_str()
>     "Blah, blah, blah ... this is an example."
>   end
> end
> ```
>
> Very simple ... just re-open the class and create a method with the same
> name. However, there's a problem with this, which happens to be the same
> problem we have in JavaScript, and that's the fact that we've now just
> modified this method permanently for the rest of the execution.
>
> Well, with refinements, the better way of accomplishing the same thing is
> as follows.
>
> ```ruby
> module MyLibrary
>   refine(String) do
>     def to_str()
>       "Blah, blah, blah ... this is an example."
>     end
>   end
> end
> ```
>
> Now, if you try to send `to_str()` to, say, a string object `"hello"`
> (`"hello".to_str()`), you'll get the original `"hello"` as a return value.
> In order to use the refinements made to the class, you have to do the
> following.
>
> ```ruby
> using MyLibrary
>
> puts("hello".to_str())
> ```
>
> Running the code above properly outputs the string `Blah, blah, blah ...
> this is an example.`.
>
> Refinements can only be used after a `using` statement and only within
> that file.
>
> Given that we're already getting modules in ES6, I believe something
> similar to this would be a great addition to the language.
>
> I can definitely work on a more in-depth and detailed proposal, with
> specific JavaScript examples, if needed, but I just would like to hear
> thoughts around the idea.
>
> Thanks!
>

I think this idea is certainly worth writing a strawman for, but it's too
late in the ES6 cycle and this couldn't even be considered until ES7. Would
you be willing to write up a "Refinements" strawman with some proposed
ES-centric syntax and some preliminary semantics sketched?

Rick
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I think this idea is certainly worth writing a strawman for, but it's too
late in the ES6 cycle and this couldn't even be considered until ES7. Would
you be willing to write up a "Refinements" strawman with some proposed
ES-centric syntax and some preliminary semantics sketched?