Awesome little helper methods to make life easier

NodeHelpers.js

/**
 * These methods are written for and intended to be used within a Node.js environment.
 * The only implied dependencies are the built-in Node.js API
 * 
 * @author Pierce Moore <me@prex.io>
 */

/**
 * In Node.js, this function expands the ~ character in a path that designates a user's home directory
 */
var osPath = function(pathString) {
  if (pathString.substr(0,1) === '~')
    pathString = process.env.HOME + pathString.substr(1)
  return path.resolve(pathString)
}

PlainHelpers.js

/**
 * These helpers and methods are all written in plain Jane JavaScript and are 
 * intended to be used in that context, without any external dependencies.
 * 
 * @author Pierce Moore <me@prex.io>
 */

/**
 * Extracted this from the Underscore.js source code, a performant way to determine if an object is a callable function
 */
var isFunction = function(obj) {
  return !!(obj && obj.constructor && obj.call && obj.apply)
}

/**
 * Repeat a string n times
 * Extracted from this excellent blog post: https://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/a-tracer-utility-in-2kb/
 */
String.prototype.times = function(count) {
    return count < 1 ? '' : new Array(count + 1).join(this);
}

UnderscoreMixins.js

/**
 * These mixins are intended to be used to make Underscore more awesome than it already is.
 * The only implied dependency in the following methods is Underscore.js.
 * 
 * @author Pierce Moore <me@prex.io>
 */
_.mixin({

  /**
   * Extracted _.after from the Underscore source code and modified heavily. This function is
   * intended to fire the callback function every X iterations, instead of just once after the
   * iteration limit is complete.
   */
  step : function(step, func) {
      var count = 0
      return function() {
        if (++count % step == 0) {
          func.apply(this, arguments)
        }
      }
    }
    
})