Aro

Introduction

Aro adds metaprogramming helpers to modern JS code, chiefly to make it easy to (i) test and mock complex behavior, (ii) create type checks, and (iii) enforce code contracts. The code that is generated can be run Node.js 12+, and in all major web browsers without modification.

npm install aro -g

Once installed, in any JS file that will use the helpers, include the 'use aro' directive at the top. Then use Aro to build the development and production versions from the src directory:

aro ./project-root --your-args

The project root directory must be structured around a src directory containing an index.js file, as follows:

.
├── package.json
├── node_modules
│   └── ...
└── src
    ├── index.js
    ├── index.test.js
    ├── foo.js
    ├── foo.test.js
    └── ...

Aro-Style Code

At the top of each file that will use Aro tools, add the 'use aro' directive before any other material, including comments (only a BOM string is permitted). The meta-programming helpers are provided via normal JS syntax:

'use aro'
 
const foo = fn (bar => {                    // fn has superpowers
 
    param   (bar)(Number)                   // type check
    precon  (() => Number.isInteger(bar))   // precondition contract
    returns (Number)                        // type check
    postcon (rv => Number.isInteger(rv))    // postcondition contract
 
    return foo(bar)**2
})

fn Functions

Functions defined with fn are special in that they are tracked by Aro, so that their input and output types can be checked, and contracts enforced. This works for both synchronous and async functions.

The fn-internal tools are:

• param checks a parameter's type.
• returns checks the parent function's return type.
• precon enforces a precondition.
• postcon enforces a postcondition.

These appear at the top of a function body as one contiguous block, mimicking the organization of JSDoc-style comments. In production mode, they are commented out of the code, eliminating any performance overhead, while leaving stacktrace line numbers in tact:

'use aro'
 
const foo = /*fn*/ (bar => {
 
    // param   (bar)(Number)
    // precon  (() => Number.isInteger(bar))
    // returns (Number)
    // postcon (rv => Number.isInteger(rv))
 
    return foo(bar)**2
})

The main Function

The main variable is used to define the main app function, and is implicitly executed by Aro once all tests have run. So in the case below, a set of tests would run (more on that later), and then an HTTP server would spin up to handle requests on port 3000:

'use aro'
 
import {createServer} from 'http'
 
main = fn (() => {
 
    // Create a fizzbuzz server to demo the idea of a main function.
 
    createServer((req, res) => {
        if (req.url === '/fizz') {
            res.end('buzz')
        } else {
            res.statusCode = 404
            res.end('')
        }
    }).listen(3000)
})

If defining a module that will be included and run by other code, ignore main and use the ESModules machinery as usual.

Testing with test, mock, & local

Tests are declared in sibling files using the *.test.js naming convention. Each test file implicitly imports the material that it tests using the module and local variables from the source file that it is testing (i.e., values that are not exported can be accessed in tests via local). Here is an example file saved as ./foo.js, for which tests will be specified in ./foo.test.js (shown below):

./foo.js:

'use aro'
 
local.insertSpaces = fn (inputStr => {
 
    // Inserts spaces before sequences of capital letters.
 
    param   (inputStr)(String)
    returns (String)
 
    return inputStr.replace(/([A-Z]+)/g, ' $1')
})
 
export const fromCamelCase = fn (inputStr => {
 
    // Transforms a string from camel case to spaced lowercase case.
 
    param   (inputStr)(String)
    returns (String)
 
    if (!inputStr.trim()) {
        return inputStr
    }
 
    return local.insertSpaces(inputStr).toLowerCase()
})

./foo.test.js:

'use aro'
 
import assert from 'assert'
 
test(done => {
 
    // Verify the space insertion function behavior.
 
    const testInput = 'fooBarBaz'
    const withSpaces = local.insertSpaces(testInput)
    assert.equal(withSpaces, 'foo Bar Baz')
    done()
})
 
test(done => {
 
    // Verify overall fromCamelCase transformation.
 
    const testInput = 'fooBarBaz'
    const regularCase = module.fromCamelCase(testInput)
    assert.equal(regularCase, 'foo bar baz')
    done()
})

Mocking Functions

The mock function is the most valuable tool provided by Aro. It renders the ordinarily harrowing task of setting up mocks as simple as one function call. Any function that has been defined with fn can be mocked inline, as shown below.

First, consider this example source file, at ./bar.js:

'use aro'
 
local.randomHex = fn (ln => {
 
    // Generate a random hex string of the desired length.
    // Note: Not crypto secure.
 
    param   (ln)(Number)
    precon  (() => ln < 20)
    returns (String)
 
    const hex = (
        Math.random().toString(16) + 
        Math.random().toString(16)
    )
    return hex.slice(2, ln + 2)
})
 
export const randomizeFname = fn (basename => {
 
    // Prepends a random hex string to the given basename.
 
    param   (basement)(String)
    returns (String)
 
    return local.randomHex(8) + '-' + basename
})

Notice that because the randomHex produces non-predictable output, it will be useful to mock it in order to make the behavior of randomizeFname predictable and therefore testable. Here is how that would be done within ./bar.test.js:

'use aro'
 
import assert from 'assert'
 
test(done => {
 
    // Ensure that filenames can be randomized.
 
    mock(local.randomHex)(() => 'ffffffff')         // Create mock.
    const fname = public.randomizeFname('foo.jpg')  // Call the function.
    assert(fname === 'ffffffff-foo.jpg')            // Predictable result.
    done()
})

A mock persists for the duration of a single test; calling done() wipes out the mock, setting the function back its real value.

Code Contracts

Contracts are enforced (development mode only) by the precon and postcon functions, which take functions that perform verification work before or after the business logic runs. For example:

'use aro'
 
import fs from 'fs'
 
const read = fn (async conf => {
 
    // Dummy function that reads either a dir or a file from disk.
 
    precon  (() => conf.file || conf.dir)     // Require .file or .dir prop...
    precon  (() => !(conf.file && conf.dir))  // ...but forbid both at same time.
    postcon (rv => rv.trim().length > 0)      // Don't return empty string.
 
    let data
    if (conf.file) {
        data = await fs.readFile(conf.file, conf.dataType).catch(() => '')
    } else {
        data = await fs.readdir(conf.dir).catch(() => '')
        data = data.join(', ')
    }
    return data
})

Type Checking

Aro relies on the Protocheck library. Type checks are implictly run on the inputs to the param and returns functions, as shown:

'use aro'
 
const foo = fn (bar => {
 
    param   (bar)(Number)
    returns (Number)
 
    return foo(bar)**2
})

Simple Types

Protocheck implements simple types with semantics that keep to the type definitions in the ES6 spec, with two exceptions: arrays and functions are not considered Object instances. The simple types are:

• Any class or constructor function (String, Date, YourClass, etc.).
• Object is any non-primitive except functions, arrays, and null-proto objects.
• Any is anything (including undefined).
• Null is the type of null (per the ES6 spec).
• Undefined is the type of undefined (per the ES6 spec).
• Void is a value of type Null or Undefined.
• Dictionary is a null-prototype object (i.e., Object.create(null)).

Accessing Types

Aro's directly exposes the composable higher-order types implemented by Protocheck as global.types. One can therefore access them by a simple destructuring assignment statement targeting types:

'use aro'
 
const {Maybe, Tuple, Void, U, T, ArrayT} = types

Union Types

To declare a union type, pass a list of types to U.

U(String, Number)

This could be used as a parameter type check, for example, as shown:

'use aro'
 
export const convertIdToInt = fn (id => {
 
    param   (id)(U(String, Number))
    returns (Number)
 
    return parseInt(id, 10)
})

Maybe Types

Maybe constructs a union type that implicitly includes Void.

Maybe(String)
 
// The above is exactly the same as the below:
 
U(String, Void)

Tuple Types

To declare a tuple, pass a list of types to Tuple.

Tuple(String, Number, Boolean)

Generic Types

To declare a generic type, use the T function and pass it a value:

export const fooFunc = fn (obj => {
 
    param   (obj)(Object)
    returns (T(obj)) // Returns an object of the same type as obj.
 
    return new obj.constructor()
})

Array Types

To declare an array generic, use the ArrayT function and pass it a type. Here's a number array:

ArrayT(Number)

Reusing Types

Any type can be saved and reused:

'use aro'
 
const Coordinate = Tuple(Number, Number)
 
const distance = fn ((a, b) => {
 
    // Get the distance between points a and b.
 
    param   (a)(Coordinate)
    param   (b)(Coordinate)
    returns (Number)
 
    const [x1, y1] = a
    const [x2, y2] = b
 
    return Math.sqrt(
        (x2 - x1)**2 + (y2 - y1)**2
    )
})

Return Types in Async Functions

Within async functions, Aro will respect the use of the return keyword, so that returns (String) would check the resolved value rather than the returned value (which would be a Promise object).

'use aro'
 
const asyncIdentity = fn (async x => {
 
    param   (x)(Number)
    returns (Number)
 
    return x
})
 
asyncIdentity(5) // pass

ESLint Config

{
    ...
 
    // Let ESLint know about the globals and locally given variables.
    "globals": {
        "main": true,
        "fn": true,
        "param": true,
        "returns": true,
        "precon": true,
        "postcon": true,
        "local": true
    },
 
     // Treat .test.js files specially.
    "overrides": {
        "files": ["*.test.js"],
        "globals": {
            "test": true,
            "mock": true,
            "local": true
        }
    }
}