dcl is a micro library written in JavaScript for node.js and modern browsers that implements OOP with mixins + AOP at both “class” and object level.

Getting started

• Installation - super-simple ways to install dcl
• Tutorial - hands-on with dcl
• Cheatsheet - look up common operations

Module documentation

• mini.js - minimal dcl kernel, you might want to use it on browsers to conserve bandwidth
  • dcl() - the composition engine
  • dcl.superCall() - super call decorator
• dcl.js - full dcl kernel that includes chaining control and AOP support
  • dcl.advise() - general advice decorator
  • dcl.chainBefore() - “before” chaining directive
  • dcl.chainAfter() - “after” chaining directive
• advise.js - object-level AOP with dynamic advisement
  • advise() - general advice directive
• inherited.js - dynamic super calls without decorators
  • inherited() - super call
• debug.js - error-checking and introspection facility
  • dclDebug.log() - log information of classes and objects

Library documentation

dcl comes with a small library of useful advices, mixins, and base classes:

• Advices - various debugging, cache, and AOP helpers
• Bases - constructor helpers
• Mixins - life-cycle helpers

Advanced topics

• Decorator - explains the concept of decorators, and how they are used in dcl
• Supercalls in JS - discussion of different methods to do supercalls in JavaScript, their pros and cons, and what was selected for dcl and why
• Constructors - desigining robust mixin-aware constructors
• Multi-stage construction - implementing multi-stage construction
• Destructors - destructing objects and freeing its resources is a serious business
• OOP and JS - discussion of advanced OOP, its deficiencies, and ways to overcome its problems
• OOP in JS slides - my presentation at ClubAjax partially based on the blog post above; dcl was introduced as an experiment to create a balanced OOP + AOP package, which helps leverage mixin-based techniques