Appendix B: Practice, Practice, Practice!

In this appendix, we'll explore some exercises and their suggested solutions. These are just to get you started with practice over the concepts from the book.

Practicing Comparisons

Let's practice working with value types and comparisons (Chapter 4, Pillar 3) where coercion will need to be involved.

scheduleMeeting(..) should take a start time (in 24-hour format as a string "hh:mm") and a meeting duration (number of minutes). It should return true if the meeting falls entirely within the work day (according to the times specified in dayStart and dayEnd); return false if the meeting violates the work day bounds.

const dayStart = "07:30";
const dayEnd = "17:45";

function scheduleMeeting(startTime,durationMinutes) {
    // ..TODO..
}

scheduleMeeting("7:00",15);     // false
scheduleMeeting("07:15",30);    // false
scheduleMeeting("7:30",30);     // true
scheduleMeeting("11:30",60);    // true
scheduleMeeting("17:00",45);    // true
scheduleMeeting("17:30",30);    // false
scheduleMeeting("18:00",15);    // false

Try to solve this yourself first. Consider the usage of equality and relational comparison operators, and how coercion impacts this code. Once you have code that works, compare your solution(s) to the code in "Suggested Solutions" at the end of this appendix.

Practicing Closure

Now let's practice with closure (Chapter 4, Pillar 1).

The range(..) function takes a number as its first argument, representing the first number in a desired range of numbers. The second argument is also a number representing the end of the desired range (inclusive). If the second argument is omitted, then another function should be returned that expects that argument.

function range(start,end) {
    // ..TODO..
}

range(3,3);    // [3]
range(3,8);    // [3,4,5,6,7,8]
range(3,0);    // []

var start3 = range(3);
var start4 = range(4);

start3(3);     // [3]
start3(8);     // [3,4,5,6,7,8]
start3(0);     // []

start4(6);     // [4,5,6]

Try to solve this yourself first.

Once you have code that works, compare your solution(s) to the code in "Suggested Solutions" at the end of this appendix.

Practicing Prototypes

Finally, let's work on this and objects linked via prototype (Chapter 4, Pillar 2).

Define a slot machine with three reels that can individually spin(), and then display() the current contents of all the reels.

The basic behavior of a single reel is defined in the reel object below. But the slot machine needs individual reels—objects that delegate to reel, and which each have a position property.

A reel only knows how to display() its current slot symbol, but a slot machine typically shows three symbols per reel: the current slot (position), one slot above (position - 1), and one slot below (position + 1). So displaying the slot machine should end up displaying a 3 x 3 grid of slot symbols.

function randMax(max) {
    return Math.trunc(1E9 * Math.random()) % max;
}

var reel = {
    symbols: [
        "♠", "♥", "♦", "♣", "☺", "★", "☾", "☀"
    ],
    spin() {
        if (this.position == null) {
            this.position = randMax(
                this.symbols.length - 1
            );
        }
        this.position = (
            this.position + 100 + randMax(100)
        ) % this.symbols.length;
    },
    display() {
        if (this.position == null) {
            this.position = randMax(
                this.symbols.length - 1
            );
        }
        return this.symbols[this.position];
    }
};

var slotMachine = {
    reels: [
        // this slot machine needs 3 separate reels
        // hint: Object.create(..)
    ],
    spin() {
        this.reels.forEach(function spinReel(reel){
            reel.spin();
        });
    },
    display() {
        // TODO
    }
};

slotMachine.spin();
slotMachine.display();
// ☾ | ☀ | ★
// ☀ | ♠ | ☾
// ♠ | ♥ | ☀

slotMachine.spin();
slotMachine.display();
// ♦ | ♠ | ♣
// ♣ | ♥ | ☺
// ☺ | ♦ | ★

Try to solve this yourself first.

Hints:

Use the % modulo operator for wrapping position as you access symbols circularly around a reel.
Use Object.create(..) to create an object and prototype-link it to another object. Once linked, delegation allows the objects to share this context during method invocation.
Instead of modifying the reel object directly to show each of the three positions, you can use another temporary object (Object.create(..) again) with its own position, to delegate from.

Once you have code that works, compare your solution(s) to the code in "Suggested Solutions" at the end of this appendix.

Suggested Solutions

Keep in mind that these suggested solutions are just that: suggestions. There are many different ways to solve these practice exercises. Compare your approach to what you see here, and consider the pros and cons of each.

Suggested solution for "Comparisons" (Pillar 3) practice:

const dayStart = "07:30";
const dayEnd = "17:45";

function scheduleMeeting(startTime,durationMinutes) {
    var [ , meetingStartHour, meetingStartMinutes ] =
        startTime.match(/^(\d{1,2}):(\d{2})$/) || [];

    durationMinutes = Number(durationMinutes);

    if (
        typeof meetingStartHour == "string" &&
        typeof meetingStartMinutes == "string"
    ) {
        let durationHours =
            Math.floor(durationMinutes / 60);
        durationMinutes =
            durationMinutes - (durationHours * 60);
        let meetingEndHour =
            Number(meetingStartHour) + durationHours;
        let meetingEndMinutes =
            Number(meetingStartMinutes) +
            durationMinutes;

        if (meetingEndMinutes >= 60) {
            meetingEndHour = meetingEndHour + 1;
            meetingEndMinutes =
                meetingEndMinutes - 60;
        }

        // re-compose fully-qualified time strings
        // (to make comparison easier)
        let meetingStart = `${
            meetingStartHour.padStart(2,"0")
        }:${
            meetingStartMinutes.padStart(2,"0")
        }`;
        let meetingEnd = `${
            String(meetingEndHour).padStart(2,"0")
        }:${
            String(meetingEndMinutes).padStart(2,"0")
        }`;

        // NOTE: since expressions are all strings,
        // comparisons here are alphabetic, but it's
        // safe here since they're fully qualified
        // time strings (ie, "07:15" < "07:30")
        return (
            meetingStart >= dayStart &&
            meetingEnd <= dayEnd
        );
    }

    return false;
}

scheduleMeeting("7:00",15);     // false
scheduleMeeting("07:15",30);    // false
scheduleMeeting("7:30",30);     // true
scheduleMeeting("11:30",60);    // true
scheduleMeeting("17:00",45);    // true
scheduleMeeting("17:30",30);    // false
scheduleMeeting("18:00",15);    // false

Suggested solution for "Closure" (Pillar 1) practice:

function range(start,end) {
    start = Number(start) || 0;

    if (end === undefined) {
        return function getEnd(end) {
            return getRange(start,end);
        };
    }
    else {
        end = Number(end) || 0;
        return getRange(start,end);
    }


    // **********************

    function getRange(start,end) {
        var ret = [];
        for (let i = start; i <= end; i++) {
            ret.push(i);
        }
        return ret;
    }
}

range(3,3);    // [3]
range(3,8);    // [3,4,5,6,7,8]
range(3,0);    // []

var start3 = range(3);
var start4 = range(4);

start3(3);     // [3]
start3(8);     // [3,4,5,6,7,8]
start3(0);     // []

start4(6);     // [4,5,6]

Suggested solution for "Prototypes" (Pillar 2) practice:

function randMax(max) {
    return Math.trunc(1E9 * Math.random()) % max;
}

var reel = {
    symbols: [
        "♠", "♥", "♦", "♣", "☺", "★", "☾", "☀"
    ],
    spin() {
        if (this.position == null) {
            this.position = randMax(
                this.symbols.length - 1
            );
        }
        this.position = (
            this.position + 100 + randMax(100)
        ) % this.symbols.length;
    },
    display() {
        if (this.position == null) {
            this.position = randMax(
                this.symbols.length - 1
            );
        }
        return this.symbols[this.position];
    }
};

var slotMachine = {
    reels: [
        Object.create(reel),
        Object.create(reel),
        Object.create(reel)
    ],
    spin() {
        this.reels.forEach(function spinReel(reel){
            reel.spin();
        });
    },
    display() {
        var lines = [];

        // display all 3 lines on the slot machine
        for (
            let linePos = -1; linePos <= 1; linePos++
        ) {
            let line = this.reels.map(
                function getSlot(reel){
                    var slot = Object.create(reel);
                    slot.position = (
                        reel.symbols.length +
                        reel.position +
                        linePos
                    ) % reel.symbols.length;
                    return slot.display();
                }
            );
            lines.push(line.join(" | "));
        }

        return lines.join("\n");
    }
};

slotMachine.spin();
slotMachine.display();
// ☾ | ☀ | ★
// ☀ | ♠ | ☾
// ♠ | ♥ | ☀

slotMachine.spin();
slotMachine.display();
// ♦ | ♠ | ♣
// ♣ | ♥ | ☺
// ☺ | ♦ | ★

That's it for this book. But now it's time to look for real projects to practice these ideas on. Just keep coding, because that's the best way to learn!

Appendix B: Practice, Practice, Practice!

Practicing Comparisons​

Practicing Closure​

Practicing Prototypes​

Suggested Solutions​

Practicing Comparisons

Practicing Closure

Practicing Prototypes

Suggested Solutions