Some useful snippets in CoffeeScript JavaScript 16.04.2016

Array snippets

Use join to convert an array into a string. It takes a string to use as the joining text between each item

['James ', 'Bond'].join '-'

Use slice to extract part of an array:

['good', 'bad', 'ugly'].slice 0, 2

Use concat to join two arrays together

['a', 'b'].concat ['c', 'd', 'z']

In CoffeeScript the in operator has particular meaning for arrays. In JavaScript the in operator is used for objects, but in CoffeeScript it’s used for arrays (the of operator is used for objects).

Use in to determine if an array contains a particular value:

'to be' in ['to be', 'not to be']

Array comprehensions allow you to evaluate an expression for each item in an array

number for number in [9,0,2,1,0]
# [9,0,2,1,0]

Use by to perform an array comprehension in jumps

days = [0..23]
sleep = (hour) -> "Sleeping at #{hour}"
sleep hour for hour in days by 6
# [ 'Sleeping at 0','Sleeping at 6','Sleeping at 12','Sleeping at 18' ]

Object snippets

If you want to check if an object contains a property, use the of operator

'title' of objBook
# true

The property names of an object are returned as an array using a comprehension

name for name of {bob: 152, john: 139, tracy: 209}
# ['bob', 'john', 'tracy']

To get the property values from an object instead of the property names, use a slightly different comprehension format

value for property, value of object
# example
score for name, score

Suppose an object doesn’t yet have any properties. The long way to check it is to first use the existential operator to see if it exists, and then initialize it if it doesn’t:

if !objBook['author']?
    objBook['author'] = 'William Shakespeare'

This is a common pattern, so there’s a shorter version of it called existential assignment. Put an existential operator in front of the assignment operator

objBook['author'] ?= 'William Shakespeare'

Misc

switch statement and alias for true value

isFavorited = (title) ->
    switch title
        when "The Shawshank Redemption", "The Godfather"
            yes
        else 
            no

if isFavorited "The Godfather" is yes then watch()
else
    suggestAnother()
    sendNotification()

These are provided by the then keyword immediately after an if to supply an expression as a block without a newline or indentation

year = 1985
if year is 1985 then isMyBirthday = yes

Or inside a switch

day = 5
daySuffix = switch day
when 1 then 'st'
when 2 then 'nd'
when 3 then 'rd'
else 'th'

An if statement can also go after an expression:

isMyBirthday = yes if year is 1985

Use search method on a string to find another string within

hasSomethig = (something) ->
    str.search(something) isnt -1

Use split when you want to split a string into an array of strings. You can split a string on the comma character using the /,/ regular expression literal

'foo,boo'.split /,/