Namespacing in coffeescript - coffeescript

Question

Is there any intrinsic support for namespacing in coffeescript?
Adequate namespacing seems like something coffeescript could really help with although I don't seem to be able to find anything to suggest that there is support for this.

Answer 1

I prefer using this pattern for "namespacing". It isn't really a namespace but an object tree, but it does the job:
Somewhere in the startup of the app, you define the namespaces globally (replace window with exports or global based on your environment.
window.App =
Models: {}
Collections: {}
Views: {}
Then, when you want to declare classes, you can do so:
class App.Models.MyModel
# The class is namespaced in App.Models
And when you want to reference it:
myModel = new App.Models.MyModel()
If you don't like the global way of defining namespaces, you can do so before your class:
window.App.Models ?= {} # Create the "namespace" if Models does not already exist.
class App.Models.MyModel

Answer 2

A way to make it simple to reference the class both in it's own "namespace" (the closed function) and the global namespace is to assign it immediately. Example:
# Define namespace unless it already exists
window.Test or= {}
# Create a class in the namespace and locally
window.Test.MyClass = class MyClass
constructor: (#a) ->
# Alerts 3
alert new Test.MyClass(1).a + new MyClass(2).a
As you see, now you can refer to it as MyClass within the file, but if you need it outside it's available as Test.MyClass. If you only want it in the Test namespace you can simplify it even more:
window.Test or= {}
# Create only in the namespace
class window.Test.MyClass
constructor: (#a) ->

Answer 3

Here's my personal implementation :
https://github.com/MaksJS/Namespace-in-CoffeeScript
How to use in the browser :
namespace Foo:SubPackage1:SubPackage2:
class Bar extends Baz
#[...]
How to use in CommonJS environment :
require './path/to/this/file' # once
namespace Foo:SubPackage1:SubPackage2:
class Bar extends Baz
#[...]

Answer 4

From the section about namespacing on the wiki: https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/FAQ
# Code:
#
namespace = (target, name, block) ->
[target, name, block] = [(if typeof exports isnt 'undefined' then exports else window), arguments...] if arguments.length < 3
top = target
target = target[item] or= {} for item in name.split '.'
block target, top
# Usage:
#
namespace 'Hello.World', (exports) ->
# `exports` is where you attach namespace members
exports.hi = -> console.log 'Hi World!'
namespace 'Say.Hello', (exports, top) ->
# `top` is a reference to the main namespace
exports.fn = -> top.Hello.World.hi()
Say.Hello.fn() # prints 'Hi World!'

Answer 5

You must really check out CoffeeToaster:
https://github.com/serpentem/coffee-toaster
It comes with a packaging system that when enabled will use your folder's hierarchy as namespaces declarations to your classes if you want so, then you can extends classes from multiple files, do imports and son, such as like:
#<< another/package/myclass
class SomeClass extends another.package.MyClass
The build configuration is extremely minimalist and simple, made to be obvious:
# => SRC FOLDER
toast 'src_folder'
# => VENDORS (optional)
# vendors: ['vendors/x.js', 'vendors/y.js', ... ]
# => OPTIONS (optional, default values listed)
# bare: false
# packaging: true
# expose: ''
# minify: false
# => HTTPFOLDER (optional), RELEASE / DEBUG (required)
httpfolder: 'js'
release: 'www/js/app.js'
debug: 'www/js/app-debug.js'
There's also a debug option that compile files individually for ease the debugging processes and another useful features.
Hope it helps.

Answer 6

Note that it is possible to write:
class MyObject.MyClass
constructor: () ->
initializeStuff()
myfunction: () ->
doStuff()
if you declared an object/ns MyObject.
And while we're at it, here's my implementation of a jquery-ns-function:
(function($) {
$.namespace = function(namespace, initVal) {
var nsParts = namespace.split("."),
nsPart = nsParts.shift(),
parent = window[nsPart] = window[nsPart] || {},
myGlobal = parent;
while(nsPart = nsParts.shift()) {
parent = parent[nsPart] = parent[nsPart] || {};
}
return myGlobal;
}
})(jQuery);

Answer 7

I Strongly suggest using requirejs.org or similar battle tested module loaders.
Especially if you want to load stuff asynchronously.
Rolling your own namespacing/module scheme is really hard if you disregard
the simply, easy and naive approaches

Answer 8

As I'm also busy to learn the best way of structuring the files and use coffeescript in combination with backbone and cake, I have created a small project on github to keep it as a reference for myself, maybe it will help you too around cake and some basic things. All .js (with cake compiled files) are in www folder so that you can open them in your browser and all source files (except for cake configuration) are in src folder. In this example, all .coffee files are compiled and combined in one output .js file which is then included in html.
Based on some of the answers here on StackOverflow I have created small util.coffee file (in src folder) that exposes "namespaces" to the rest of the code.