Wrapping What You Dont Like

The practice of putting wrappers around paradigms, API's, etc. that we don't like to deal with directly.

Whether this is a good thing or bad is subject to debate. While few dispute wrapping lower-level operations, sometimes high-level API's or paradigms are also wrapped to give us the view or paradigm we want to see.

Example of OO wrapping SQL:

  method getAllSmallPinkScarves() {
     sql = "select * from products where product='scarf' and color='pink' 
            and size='small'";
     return(qr = new database.query(sql))
  }

(See NoStrings for more on this practice.)

Example of procedural wrapping OO to privide a shorter print call:

  function print(myString) {
     system.io.output.writer.print(myString);
  }

How about wrapping procedural, with functional to escape low level loops

  function forEach(aList, aFunction){
    for(var i=0;i<aList.length;i++)
      aFunction(aList[i]);
  }

usage..

  forEach(aList,function(each){
    print(each.toString()); 
  });

Wrapping OO with functional

  function when(anObject, anEvent, aCallback){
    if(anObject.attachEvent)anObject.attachEvent("on"+anEvent, aCallback);
    else anObject.addEventListener(anEvent, aCallback, true);
  }

allows more english like usage....

  when(window,"load",function(anEvent){
    //make all elements yellow
    forEach(document.forms[0].items,function(each){
      each.style.backgroundColor="yellow";
    });
  });

CategoryAbstraction