Classes

Classes, Inheritance, and Super

CoffeeScript provides a basic class structure that allows you to name your class, set the superclass, assign prototypal properties, and define the constructor, in a single assignable expression.

Small example below:

class Animal
  constructor: (@name) ->

  move: (meters) ->
    alert @name + " moved #{meters}m."

class Snake extends Animal
  move: ->
    alert "Slithering..."
    super 5

class Horse extends Animal
  move: ->
    alert "Galloping..."
    super 45

sam = new Snake "Sammy the Python"
tom = new Horse "Tommy the Palomino"

sam.move()
tom.move()

This will show 4 popups:

Slithering…
Sammy the Python moved 5m.
Galloping…
Tommy the Palomino moved 45m.

Prototypes

If you feel the need to extend an object’s prototype, :: gives you quick access to an it so you can add methods to it and later use this method on all instances of that method.

String::dasherize = ->
  this.replace /_/g, "-"

The above example will give you the ability to use the dasherize method on all Strings. This will replace all underscores to dashes.