MooTools is a lightweight, object-oriented, web-application framework
Software framework
In computer programming, a software framework is an abstraction in which software providing generic functionality can be selectively changed by user code, thus providing application specific software...
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
, written in JavaScript. It is released under the free, open-source MIT License
MIT License
The MIT License is a free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . It is a permissive license, meaning that it permits reuse within proprietary software provided all copies of the licensed software include a copy of the MIT License terms...
. It is used on more than 5% of all websites, and is one of the most popular JavaScript libraries.
History
Valerio Proietti first authored the framework and released it in September 2006 taking as his inspiration Prototype
Prototype Javascript Framework
The Prototype JavaScript Framework is a JavaScript framework created by Sam Stephenson in February 2005 as part of the foundation for Ajax support in Ruby on Rails. It is implemented as a single file of JavaScript code, usually named prototype.js...
and Dean Edward's base2. MooTools originated from Moo.fx
Moo.fx
moo.fx is a JavaScript effects library, first released in October 2005 by Valerio Proietti as an add-on to the Prototype Javascript Framework. It can be used as a lighter alternative to script.aculo.us or other, bigger libraries...
, a popular plug-in Proietti produced for Prototype in October 2005, which is still maintained and used.
Whereas Prototype extended—prototyped—many of JavaScript's native String, Array, and Function objects with additional methods, Proietti desired a framework that (at the time) further extended the native Element object as well to offer greater control of the Document Object Model
Document Object Model
The Document Object Model is a cross-platform and language-independent convention for representing and interacting with objects in HTML, XHTML and XML documents. Aspects of the DOM may be addressed and manipulated within the syntax of the programming language in use...
(DOM).
Components
MooTools includes a number of components, but not all need to be loaded for each application. Some of the component categories are:
Core: A collection of utility functions that all the other components require.
More: An official collection of add-ons that extend the Core and provide enhanced functionality.
Class: The base library for Class object instantiation.
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
Native Object enhancements. The Natives add functionality, compatibility, and new methods that simplify coding.
Element: Contains a large number of enhancements and compatibility standardization to the HTML Element
HTML element
An HTML element is an individual component of an HTML document. HTML documents are composed of a tree of HTML elements and other nodes, such as text nodes. Each element can have attributes specified. Elements can also have content, including other elements and text. HTML elements represent...
object.
Fx: An advanced effects-API to animate page elements.
JSON , or JavaScript Object Notation, is a lightweight text-based open standard designed for human-readable data interchange. It is derived from the JavaScript scripting language for representing simple data structures and associative arrays, called objects...
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther". Safari is also the...
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...
4+
Benefits
MooTools provides the user with a number of advantages over native JavaScript. These include:
An extensible and modular framework allowing developers to choose their own customized combination of components.
MooTools follows object-oriented practices and the DRY
Don't repeat yourself
In software engineering, Don't Repeat Yourself is a principle of software development aimed at reducing repetition of information of all kinds, especially useful in multi-tier architectures...
principle.
An advanced effects component, with optimized transitions such as easing equations used by many Flash developers.
The Document Object Model is a cross-platform and language-independent convention for representing and interacting with objects in HTML, XHTML and XML documents. Aspects of the DOM may be addressed and manipulated within the syntax of the programming language in use...
, enabling developers to easily add, modify, select, and delete DOM elements. Storing and retrieving information with Element storage is also supported.
The framework includes built-in functions for manipulation of CSS
CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
The Document Object Model is a cross-platform and language-independent convention for representing and interacting with objects in HTML, XHTML and XML documents. Aspects of the DOM may be addressed and manipulated within the syntax of the programming language in use...
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
(API) as well as a custom downloads module allowing developers to download only the modules and dependencies they need for a particular app.
Emphasis on modularity and reusability
Every JavaScript framework has its philosophy, and MooTools is interested in taking full advantage of the flexibility and power of JavaScript in a way that emphasizes greater modularity and code reuse. MooTools accomplishes these goals in a way that is intuitive to a developer coming from a class-based inheritance
Class-based programming
Class-based programming, or more commonly class-orientation, refers to the style of object-oriented programming in which inheritance is achieved by defining classes of objects, as opposed to the objects themselves .The most popular and developed model of OOP is a class-based model, as opposed to an...
language like Java with the MooTools Class object.
Class is an object of key/value pairs that can contain either properties or methods (functions). Class is effortlessly mixed and extended with other Class instantiations allowing for the greatest focus of MooTools: Code reuse achieved through maximizing the power of JavaScript's prototypical inheritance, but in a Class object syntax more familiar to classical inheritance models.
This is a list of object-oriented programming programming languages.-Languages with object-oriented features:*ABAP*Ada 95*AmigaE*BETA*Blue*Boo*C++*C#*COBOL*Cobra*ColdFusion*Common Lisp*COOL*CorbaScript*Clarion*CLU*Curl*D*Dylan*E*Eiffel...
s. For example, the following is MooTools' equivalent of the examples in Wikipedia's polymorphism page:
var Animal = new Class({
initialize: function(name) {
this.name = name;
}
});
var Cat = new Class({
Extends: Animal,
talk: function {
return 'Meow!';
}
});
var Dog = new Class({
Extends: Animal,
talk: function {
return 'Arf! Arf';
}
});
var animals = {
a: new Cat('Missy'),
b: new Cat('Mr. Bojangles'),
c: new Dog('Lassie')
};
moo.fx is a JavaScript effects library, first released in October 2005 by Valerio Proietti as an add-on to the Prototype Javascript Framework. It can be used as a lighter alternative to script.aculo.us or other, bigger libraries...
In web application development, an Ajax framework is a framework which leverages Ajax, a collection of technologies for building dynamic web pages on the client side...
A Rich Internet Application is a Web application that has many of the characteristics of desktop application software, typically delivered either by way of a site-specific browser, via a browser plug-in, independent sandboxes, extensive use of JavaScript, or virtual machines...
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
- Rationale :There are many JavaScript frameworks available. The intention of this comparison is to show some examples of JavaScript frameworks with their different features.- Table of Javascript Frameworks :- External links :* * * * * * * *...
XMLHttpRequest is an API available in web browser scripting languages such as JavaScript. It is used to send HTTP or HTTPS requests directly to a web server and load the server response data directly back into the script. The data might be received from the server as XML text or as plain text...
