I think as a best practice we should prefer
prototype.js accessors
versus. a
mix of prototype helpers and native DOM
properties. It's more consistent
and
more bug-proof in my opinion. I tend to always
assume elements have been
extended by prototype, but when the code mixes prototype.js and native
accessors, you have greater chances to introduce non-extended elements as
variables / members of your class that another developer will maybe miss.
Here you would do
this.currentImage.up().setStyle({
lineHeight: height + 'px'
})
I prefer to use native JavaScript APIs whenever possible and use
Prototype only when:
* it simplifies my code
* it fixes a cross browser issue.
You can make a proposal but I'd be -0 for using Prototype in any situation.
I'm curious to know the rationale behind your reasoning.
I see mostly advantages in preferring prototype over native APIs :
* Browser issues can be tricky, I personally would not assume that I always
know when to use prototype to avoid one. I admit I don't test my code in all
browsers (Konqueror, Opera, etc. you name it.), but I know prototype.js is
extensively tested including in exotic browsers.
* Using prototype.js selectors you should get the best of breed of browsers
selectors, so overall the performance is better. When you use
getElementsByTagName I guess you assume it runs faster than prototype
selector. Maybe it's true today (but I would think not by far) but I will
pretty likely not be tomorrow (and let's hope by far) - when most browsers
will have a good implementation of querySelectorAll (like Opera has for
example) ; which prototype selector will certainly rely on (when it's
available) in future versions (if not already, haven't checked).
The advantage of using prototype.js here is the same argument of having a
unified API and hiding implementation details. Native JS APIs is
unfortunately always a moving target, since browsers implement
specifications at their own pace, not in the same order, etc. Only a using a
library's API you can abstract this and be pretty safe your code will run
fine everywhere and with maximized performance.
* Where do you place the bar ? Why $('element') simplifies your code over
.getElementById('element') but not .select('img') over
.getElementsByTagName('img')
* RE my argument about not extended elements
I won't make a proposal to enforce that, but again I'm curious to hear what
you think.
Personally I prefer to always use Prototype whenever possible, as indeed
mixing Prototype with native methods created a lot of problems. It's
true that sometimes it looks like unneeded overhead, but it's hard to
predict how variables will be used later.
IMO, the performance gain is not worth the effort of analyzing whether
or not an object is extended or not.
And it helps having a uniform coding style.
> I agree, but I don't like the fact that
gallery.js would depend on the
> presence of the mainContentArea element. Is this element part of the
> public "API"?
