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@jed
Created November 28, 2011 13:14
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an attempt to make the new operator dynamically invokeable
// usage: newOperator(constructor, [arg1, arg2, ...])
// example: newOperator(Date, [1995, 11, 24])
// => should be identical to new Date(1995, 11, 24)
function newOperator(constructor, args) {
var i = args.length + 1
, params = []
, fn
while (i--) params[i] = "$" + i
params.push("return new $0(" + params.slice(1) + ")")
fn = Function.apply(null, params)
params = params.concat.apply(constructor, args)
return fn.apply(null, params)
}
@WebReflection
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jed, no need to b=b||[] ... just b||[] because if length is zero Array(1).join("whatever") will be an empty string (join works with at least length 2 between 0 and 1) so the b, even if undefined, will be untouched ;-)

function d(
  a, // constructor function
  b, // arguments
  c  // placeholder for length
){
  return(                         // return the result of
    d[c=b?-~b.length:1] || (      // the cached function or
      d[c] = Function(            // a new function that takes
        "a,b,c",                  // a constructor, arguments, and an index
        "return new a(" +         // and returns a new instance of the constructor
          Array(c)                // with
            .join(",b[c++]")      // the inline arguments
            .slice(1) +           // (sliced to remove leading comma)
        ")"
      )
    )
  )(a,b,0)                        // called with the constructor and arguments
}

@jed
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jed commented Nov 29, 2011

in that case, why define the array at all if args has no length? can we use this?

var length = args ? args.length + 1 : 0

[EDIT] so something like this:

function newOperator(ctor, args) {
  var length = args ? -~args.length : 0
    , fn = newOperator[length]

  fn || (fn = newOperator[length] = Function(
    "ctor", "args", "i",
    "return new ctor(" +
      Array(length).join(", args[i++]").slice(1) +
    ")"
  ))

  return fn(ctor, args, 0)
}

@WebReflection
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the minus tilde does not give us much more than +1, 2 readable chars with no necessary int cast.
I agree the creation of an empty Array per each call without arguments is way too redundant and also bigger than this solution:
d[c=b?b.length+1:1]
I have edited and as result 2 chars less and faster "no arguments" execution ;-)

@jed
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jed commented Nov 29, 2011

doesn't leaving out the number cast mean that the length property could be used to inject code? i'm thinking where args is {length: "throw 'neener neener'"}.

@WebReflection
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well, the initial trick does not solve a thing here ... if you want to screw up functions that would work even with native arrays methods ...

@WebReflection
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uh .. wait, I know what you mean ... so yes, minus tilde then, updated :D

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