Is this JS code a good way for defining class with private methods?
- by tigrou
I was recently browsing a open source JavaScript project. The project is a straight port from another project in C language. It mostly use static methods, packed together in classes. Most classes are implemented using this pattern :
Foo = (function () {
var privateField = "bar";
var publicField = "bar";
function publicMethod()
{
console.log('this is public');
}
function privateMethod()
{
console.log('this is private');
}
return {
publicMethod : publicMethod,
publicField : publicField
};
})();
This was the first time I saw private methods implemented that way. I perfectly understand how it works, using a anonymous method. Here is my question : is this pattern a good practice ? What are the actual limitations or caveats ? Usually i declare my JavaScript classes like that :
Foo = new function () {
var privateField = "test";
this.publicField = "test";
this.publicMethod = function()
{
console.log('this method is public');
privateMethod();
}
function privateMethod()
{
console.log('this method is private');
}
};
Other than syntax, is there any difference with the pattern show above ?
