Obray Curry: A dish using Obect and Array- II

Today is another interesting find:

console.clear();

var a ={};
a.p1 = "kiazen";
a["p2"] = "krook";
a[0] = 10;
a[1] = 20;
a[2] = 30;
a[3] = 40;
console.log(a)
console.log(JSON.stringify(a));

console.clear();

var a =[];
a.p1 = "kiazen";
a["p2"] = "krook";
a[0] = 10;
a[1] = 20;
a[2] = 30;
a[3] = 40;
console.log(a)
console.log(JSON.stringify(a));

The catch is

var a= []; 
 //=> this implies 'a' as associative array and not oject

or

var a= {};
 //=> this implies 'a' as object.

So my interpretation leads that serialization of javascript object/array depends on the first initialization fo the object.

Obray Curry: A dish using Obect and Array

Most of us know to write a simple javascript object in object literal notation (JSON) as:

var o = { "p1" : "value1" , "p2" : "value2" };

We also know that, we can add property dynamically as following ways:

• o.p3 = "value3";
• o["p4"] = "value4";

Most of us also know that we can write a simple javascript array object notation (JSON) as :

var arr = [10,20,30];

So far so good. Today I have a question to share.

How about making a curry of array and object.

Ain't that f**king lovely!!!!

var a = [10, 20, 30, 40 ];
a.p1 = "kiazen";
a["p2"] = "krook";

lets execute this code and see the object.
Here is the output::

Questions:
1. What do we call this "a" as object or array ?
     I'll be referring to Obray (object array).

2. How do we represent this Obray.
     My assumed representation:  

{ [ 10, 20, 30 ], "p1": "kiazen", "p2": "krook" }

.

The site jsonlint failed to process my assumed representation

which is absolutely correct as per ECMA-262. scroll below to know exact reason.

Again on the server side, C# allows us to emulate similar structure implementation:

class MyArray[T]
    {
        List[T] _list = new List[T]();
        public string p1 { get; set; }
        public string p2 { get; set; }
        public T this[int i]
        {
            get { return _list[i]; }
            set {
                if (_list.Count < i)
                    _list[i] = value;
                else
                    _list.Add(value);
            }
        }
    }

MyArray[int] obj = new MyArray[int]();
  obj.p1 = "kiazen";
  obj.p2 = "krook";
  obj[0] = 10;
  obj[1] = 20;
  obj[2] = 30;

So far so good, but if we serialize it, what should be the JSON ?

   JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj);

*used Newtonsoft.Json.dll for object to json conversion.
It gave me the following output:

{"p1":"kiazen","p2":"krook"}

What happened to the array while serialization?
Well thanks to ECMA-262.pdf which tells us about the parsing.
Parsing (serializing/deserializing) is on either object or array. And while serializing, this component will be an object and not an array and hence, the object serialization is happening.

image source: json.org

so there is no options for our Obray, Its either Object or Array !!!

I have raised the same discussion point in json.net development forum [http://json.codeplex.com/discussions/356118]. You are free to put your opinion here.

I think we need some improvisation in json as well ?

soma.js

Soma.js : Javascript MVC

My current assignment asks me to work on javascriptmvc based out of jquery.

Today while googling came across another javascript based mvc framework based of of mootools named soma.js.
The documentation of soma.js much nicer over javascript mvc.

javascriptmvc is suppose to get more success as such since it is commercially driven but I assume soma.js is much cleaner.

So far it is my assumption which I am going to investigate and discover more in it. Definitely I am going to let you all know about it.