我应该封装我的JavaScript库吗？

Question

I have about 600 lines of javascript that performs ajax calls, dom manipulation, test processing, and other things.

I want to make it a library that others can use.

What are the steps to doing this?

My first thought was to encapsulate the entire library in the module pattern. Someone suggested this earlier to help with a www.jshint.com issue.

But I thought it might be a good idea in general.

Should I encapsulate my entire library?

• Should I use the module pattern?

Answer 1

Information Hiding is an old and well known way to make code safer and more modularized. Its one of the basic principles behind many awesome things like Abstract Data Types and Object Oriented Programming

---

(And yes, local variables and the module pattern are the only way to hide code in Javascript)

var MyModule = (function(){
    //variables in the wrapper function are local and
    // can't be seen elsewhere

    var my_var;

    function my_private_implementation_function(){ ... }

    function my_api_function(){
    }

    //return public functions
    return {
       my_api_function: my_api_function
    };
}()); //immediatelly run the module code
      //and set MyModule to the return value

//Now we can use things exported from the module

MyModule.my_api_function();

//but we can't access the prvate stuff

MyModule.my_var; //can't do this

Answer 2

I think the way you'd encapsulate the code, how you would expose it to the DOM, interact with it or any of those things is fully dependent on the way you would want to use it and of the context in which you would use it. Coding patterns all serve their own unique purpose so pick a pattern because of what it provides to you, for instance in coding ease or performance or variable exposure. So if you'd ask me, don't use a pattern because you should use a pattern, but because it does what you want it to do best.

Besides that i would advise encapsulation (if you're talking about wrapping your code in a closure) to not clutter the global object and thus avoid variable collisions which make your code more reliable since there's less risk of bugs.

Hope it helps PM5544...