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Fluent API

Javascript is great for designing fluent API - a consumer-oriented API with focus on developer experience. Combine with language dynamic features for optimal results.

Fluent API capturing construction of HTML articles with JS

Section titled “Fluent API capturing construction of HTML articles with JS”
class Item {
constructor(text, type) {
this.text = text;
this.emphasis = false;
this.type = type;
}
toHtml() {
return `<${this.type}>${this.emphasis ? '<em>' : ''}${this.text}${this.emphasis ? '</em>' : ''}</${this.type}>`;
}
}
class Section {
constructor(header, paragraphs) {
this.header = header;
this.paragraphs = paragraphs;
}
toHtml() {
return `<section><h2>${this.header}</h2>${this.paragraphs.map(p => p.toHtml()).join('')}</section>`;
}
}
class List {
constructor(text, items) {
this.text = text;
this.items = items;
}
toHtml() {
return `<ol><h2>${this.text}</h2>${this.items.map(i => i.toHtml()).join('')}</ol>`;
}
}
class Article {
constructor(topic) {
this.topic = topic;
this.sections = [];
this.lists = [];
}
section(text) {
const section = new Section(text, []);
this.sections.push(section);
this.lastSection = section;
return this;
}
list(text) {
const list = new List(text, []);
this.lists.push(list);
this.lastList = list;
return this;
}
addParagraph(text) {
const paragraph = new Item(text, 'p');
this.lastSection.paragraphs.push(paragraph);
this.lastItem = paragraph;
return this;
}
addListItem(text) {
const listItem = new Item(text, 'li');
this.lastList.items.push(listItem);
this.lastItem = listItem;
return this;
}
withEmphasis() {
this.lastItem.emphasis = true;
return this;
}
toHtml() {
return `<article><h1>${this.topic}</h1>${this.sections.map(s => s.toHtml()).join('')}${this.lists.map(l => l.toHtml()).join('')}</article>`;
}
}
Article.withTopic = topic => new Article(topic);

This allows the consumer of the API to have a nice-looking article construction, almost a DSL for this purpose, using plain JS:

const articles = [
Article.withTopic('Artificial Intelligence - Overview')
.section('What is Artificial Intelligence?')
.addParagraph('Something something')
.addParagraph('Lorem ipsum')
.withEmphasis()
.section('Philosophy of AI')
.addParagraph('Something about AI philosophy')
.addParagraph('Conclusion'),
Article.withTopic('JavaScript')
.list('JavaScript is one of the 3 languages all web developers must learn:')
.addListItem('HTML to define the content of web pages')
.addListItem('CSS to specify the layout of web pages')
.addListItem(' JavaScript to program the behavior of web pages')
];
document.getElementById('content').innerHTML = articles.map(a => a.toHtml()).join('\n');