local oo = require'oo'

Object system with virtual properties and method overriding hooks.

In a nutshell

• single, dynamic inheritance by default:
  • Fruit = oo.Fruit()
  • Apple = oo.Apple(Fruit)
  • apple = Apple(...)
  • apple.super -> Apple
  • Apple.super -> Fruit
• multiple, static inheritance by request:
  • Apple:inherit(Fruit[,replace]) - statically inherit Fruit, optionally replacing existing properties.
  • Apple:detach() - detach from the parent class, in other words statically inherit self.super.
• virtual properties with getter and setter:
  • reading Apple.foo calls Apple:get_foo() to get the value, if Apple.get_foo is defined.
  • assignment to Apple.foo calls Apple:set_foo(value) if Apple.set_foo is defined.
  • missing the setter, the property is considered read-only and the assignment fails.
• stored properties (no getter):
  • assignment to Apple.foo calls Apple:set_foo(value) and sets Apple.state.foo.
  • reading Apple.foo reads back Apple.state.foo.
• method overriding hooks:
  • function Apple:before_pick(args...) return newargs... end makes Apple:pick() call your method first.
  • function Apple:after_pick(ret...) return newret... end makes Apple:pick() call your method last.
  • function Apple:override_pick(inherited, ...) lets you override Apple:pick() and call inherited(self, ...).
• introspection:
  • self:allpairs() -> iterator() -> name, value, source - iterate all properties, including inherited and overriden ones.
  • self:properties() -> get a table of all current properties and values, including inherited ones.
  • self:inspect() - inspect the class/instance structure and contents in detail (requires glue).
• overridable subclassing and instantiation mechanisms:
  • Fruit = oo.Fruit() is sugar for Fruit = oo.Object:subclass()
  • Apple = oo.Apple(Fruit) is sugar for Apple = Fruit:subclass()
  • apple = Apple(...) is sugar for apple = Apple:create(...)
    • Apple:create() calls apple:init(...)

Inheritance and instantiation

Classes are created with oo.ClassName([super]), where super is usually another class, but can also be an instance, which is useful for creating polymorphic "views" on existing instances.

local Fruit = oo.Fruit()

You can also create anonymous classes with oo.class([super]):

local cls = oo.class()

Instances are created with cls:create(...) or simply cls(), which in turn calls cls:init(...) which is the object constructor. While cls is normally a class, it can also be an instance, which effectively enables prototype-based inheritance.

local obj = cls()

The superclass of a class or the class of an instance is accessible as self.super.

assert(obj.super == cls)
assert(cls.super == oo.Object)

Inheritance is dynamic: properties are looked up at runtime in self.super and changing a property or method in the superclass reflects on all subclasses and instances. This can be slow, but it saves space.

cls.the_answer = 42
assert(obj.the_answer == 42)

You can detach the class/instance from its parent class by calling self:detach(). This copies all inherited fields to the class/instance and removes self.super.

cls:detach()
obj:detach()
assert(obj.super == nil)
assert(cls.super == nil)
assert(cls.the_answer == 42)
assert(obj.the_answer == 42)

Static inheritance can be achieved by calling self:inherit(other[,override]) which copies over the properties of another class or instance, effectively monkey-patching self, optionally overriding properties with the same name. The fields self.classname and self.super are always preserved though, even with the override flag.

local other_cls = oo.class()
other_cls.the_answer = 13

obj:inherit(other_cls)
assert(obj.the_answer == 13) --obj continues to dynamically inherit cls.the_answer
                             --but statically inherited other_cls.the_answer

obj.the_answer = nil
assert(obj.the_answer == 42) --reverted to class default

cls:inherit(other_cls)
assert(cls.the_answer == 42) --no override

cls:inherit(other_cls, true)
assert(cls.the_answer == 13) --override

In fact, self:detach() is written as self:inherit(self.super) with the minor detail of setting self.classname = self.classname and removing self.super.

To further customize how the values are copied over for static inheritance, override self:properties().

Virtual properties are created by defining a getter and a setter. Once you have defined self:get_foo() and self:set_foo(value) you can read and write to self.foo and the getter and setter will be called to fulfill the indexing. The setter is optional: without it, the property is read-only and assigning it fails with an error.

function cls:get_answer_to_life() return deep_thought:get_answer() end
function cls:set_answer_to_life(v) deep_thought:set_answer(v) end
obj = cls()
obj.answer_to_life = 42
assert(obj.answer_to_life == 42) --assuming deep_thought can store a number

Virtual properties

Stored properties are virtual properties with a setter but no getter. The values of those properties are stored in the table self.state upon assignment of the property and read back upon indexing the property. If the setter breaks, the value is not stored.

function cls:set_answer_to_life(v) deep_thought:set_answer(v) end
obj = cls()
obj.answer_to_life = 42
assert(obj.answer_to_life == 42) --we return the stored the number
assert(obj.state.answer_to_life == 42) --which we stored here

Virtual and inherited properties are all read by calling self:getproperty(name). Virtual and real properties are written to with self:setproperty(name, value). You can override these methods for finer control over the behavior of virtual and inherited properties.

Virtual properties can be generated in bulk given a multikey getter and a multikey setter and a list of property names, by calling self:gen_properties(names, getter, setter). The setter and getter must be methods of form:

• self:getter(k) -> v
• self:setter(k, v)

Overriding hooks

Overriding hooks are sugar to make method overriding more easy and readable.

Instead of:

function Apple:pick(arg)
   print('picking', arg)
   local ret = Apple.super.pick(self, arg)
   print('picked', ret)
   return ret
end

Write:

function Apple:override_pick(inherited, arg, ...)
   print('picking', arg)
   local ret = inherited(self, arg, ...)
   print('picked', ret)
   return ret
end

Or even better:

function Apple:before_pick(arg)
   print('picking', arg)
end

function Apple:after_pick(ret)
   print('picked', ret)
   return ret
end

By defining self:before_<method>(...) a new implementation for self.<method> is created which calls the before hook (which receives all method's arguments) and then calls the existing (inherited) implementation with whatever the hook returns as arguments.

By defining self:after_<method>(...) a new implementation for self.<method> is created which calls the existing (inherited) implementation, after which it calls the hook with whatever the method returns as arguments, and returns whatever the hook returns.

By defining self:override_<method>(inherited, ...) you can access self.super.<method> as inherited.

function cls:before_init(foo, bar)
  foo = foo or default_foo
  bar = bar or default_bar
  return foo, bar
end

function cls:after_init()
  --allocate resources
end

function cls:before_destroy()
  --destroy resources
end

If you don't know the name of the method you want to override until runtime, use cls:before(name, func), cls:after(name, func) and cls:override(name, func) instead.

Last updated: 21 months ago | Edit on GitHub