Highlighting some Object functions in underscorejs
As I mentioned previously
javascript has a lightweight standard library. As I became more familiar with
PHP I often became frustrated that
javascript didn't have an equivalent to PHP's is_* such as is_array,
is_object, etc.
Yet the browser is the biggest development environment in history so clearly I'm not the only one who feels this pain point. The makers of the underscore.js have done a fine job of solving the problem.
is array?
PHP
Validates an array.
<?php
$arr = array('one','two');
var_dump(is_array($arr));
// bool(true)
?>
underscore.js
Validates an array.
<script>
console.log(_.isArray(['one','two']));
// true
</script>
is boolean?
PHP
<?php
var_dump(is_bool(true));
// bool(true)
?>
underscore.js
<script>
console.log(_.isBoolean(true));
// true
</script>
is a number?
PHP
PHP has a few methods because it handles numbers different than javascript.
is_numeric handles numbers and numeric strings
<?php
var_dump(is_numeric(42));
// bool(true)
var_dump(is_numeric('42'));
// bool(true)
?>
is_float handles float value validation.
<?php
var_dump(is_float(3.15));
// bool(true)
?>
is_integer handles validating integers.
<?php
var_dump(is_integer(3));
// bool(true)
?>
underscore.js
isNumber handles checking for integers as well as floats. What it does not ddo
that it's PHP counterpart does is validate numeric string like '42'.
<script>
console.log(_.isNumber(42));
// true
console.log(_.isNumber('42'));
// false
console.log(_.isNumber(3.15));
// true
</script>
is null?
PHP
Checks if a value is NULL or null but not another bottom value like false, an empty string`
<?php
var_dump(is_null(NULL));
// bool(true)
?>
underscore.js
<script>
console.log(_.isNull(null));
// true
console.log(_.isNull(undefined));
// false
console.log(_.isNull(''));
// false
console.log(_.isNull(false));
// false
console.log(_.isNull(0));
// false
</script>
is object?
PHP
This will validate PHP System objects as well as objects that you define yourself
<?php
class FooClass{
public function __construct(){}
}
var_dump(is_object(new FooClass()));
// bool(true)
var_dump(is_object(new stdClass()));
// bool(true)
?>
underscore.js
This will validate object literals, objects created with the constructor
pattern, and objects created with Object.create().
<script>
function FooClass(){}
var fooObject = new FooClass();
console.log(_.isObject(fooObject));
// true
console.log(_.isObject(Object.create(fooObject)));
// true
console.log(_.isObject({}));
// true
</script>
is string?
PHP
Validates a string.
<?php
var_dump(is_string('this is a string'));
// bool(true)
?>
underscore.js
Validates a string.
<script>
console.log(_.isString('this is a string'));
// true
</script>
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