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This problem is better illustrated with an example. I'll use Javascript (actually Coffeescript for syntax sake), but just because Javascript is just another LISP, right?

So, suppose I'm writing a web app which does (obviously) ajax requests. I implement a function to handle that:

ajaxRequest = (url, params, callback) ->
    # implementation goes here

Now, suppose I have a grid that fetches data from the server. Somewhere in my code I must do something like this:

userGrid.onMustFetch = ->
    ajaxRequest '/fetch/users', { surname: 'MacGyver' }, (data) ->
        # fill grid with data

What exactly is the problem here? If I want to test the implementation of onMustFetch, I will not be able to do so, because inside onMustFetch, a dependency is being called, and the test environment cannot control the dependency.

To solve this problem, I inject the dependency into the function I want to test. That means changing onMustFetch to this:

userGrid.onMustFetch = (ajaxRequest) ->
    ajaxRequest '/fetch/users', { surname: 'MacGyver' }, (data) ->
        # fill grid with data

Now the test code can pass a mock of ajaxRequest to onMustFetch and successfully test the behavior.

Wunderbar, right? Wrong! Now I have a second problem, the problem of having to bind the right instance of ajaxRequest to the right instance of onMustFetch.

In a language like Java, I could use a Dependency Injection framework to do this for me, and my code would look like this:

class UserGrid {

    private AjaxService ajaxService;

    @Inject
    public UserGrid(AjaxService ajaxService) {
        this.ajaxService = ajaxService;
    }

    public void onMustFetch() {
        HashMap<String, String> params = new HashMap<String, String>();
        params.put("surname", "MacGyver");
        ajaxService.request("/fetch/users", params, new AjaxCallback(data) {
            // fill grid with data
        });
    }

}

Creepy, I know... but actually the DI framework does all the wiring, so at least that part of the problem is easier.

Now back to our web app and to Javascript. Even if I successfully manage to always invoke onMustFetch with the right ajaxRequest reference (after all in this case that is not so hard to do), there must be an easier way. When my code grows, the dependencies increase. I can imagine passing a reference of ajaxRequest around, but what about when I have a securityService, a browserService, a eventBusService, etc, etc, etc.?

Now the real question here: How do lisp like languages solve this problem of managing dependencies? (It seems to me the dependencies must keep being passed around all over the application, but I'm sure there must be a better way...)

This problem is better illustrated with an example. I'll use Javascript (actually Coffeescript for syntax sake), but just because Javascript is just another LISP, right?

So, suppose I'm writing a web app which does (obviously) ajax requests. I implement a function to handle that:

ajaxRequest = (url, params, callback) ->
    # implementation goes here

Now, suppose I have a grid that fetches data from the server. Somewhere in my code I must do something like this:

userGrid.onMustFetch = ->
    ajaxRequest '/fetch/users', { surname: 'MacGyver' }, (data) ->
        # fill grid with data

What exactly is the problem here? If I want to test the implementation of onMustFetch, I will not be able to do so, because inside onMustFetch, a dependency is being called, and the test environment cannot control the dependency.

To solve this problem, I inject the dependency into the function I want to test. That means changing onMustFetch to this:

userGrid.onMustFetch = (ajaxRequest) ->
    ajaxRequest '/fetch/users', { surname: 'MacGyver' }, (data) ->
        # fill grid with data

Now the test code can pass a mock of ajaxRequest to onMustFetch and successfully test the behavior.

Wunderbar, right? Wrong! Now I have a second problem, the problem of having to bind the right instance of ajaxRequest to the right instance of onMustFetch.

In a language like Java, I could use a Dependency Injection framework to do this for me, and my code would look like this:

class UserGrid {

    private AjaxService ajaxService;

    @Inject
    public UserGrid(AjaxService ajaxService) {
        this.ajaxService = ajaxService;
    }

    public void onMustFetch() {
        HashMap<String, String> params = new HashMap<String, String>();
        params.put("surname", "MacGyver");
        ajaxService.request("/fetch/users", params, new AjaxCallback(data) {
            // fill grid with data
        });
    }

}

Creepy, I know... but actually the DI framework does all the wiring, so at least that part of the problem is easier.

Now back to our web app and to Javascript. Even if I successfully manage to always invoke onMustFetch with the right ajaxRequest reference (after all in this case that is not so hard to do), there must be an easier way. When my code grows, the dependencies increase. I can imagine passing a reference of ajaxRequest around, but what about when I have a securityService, a browserService, a eventBusService, etc, etc, etc.?

Now the real question here: How do lisp like languages solve this problem of managing dependencies? (It seems to me the dependencies must keep being passed around all over the application, but I'm sure there must be a better way...)

• javascript
• dependency-injection

Share Improve this question Follow edited Apr 17, 2012 at 19:15 Patrick McElhaney 59.4k4141 gold badges137137 silver badges170170 bronze badges asked Apr 17, 2012 at 19:04 RobotFooRobotFoo 30922 silver badges88 bronze badges 2

• 2 Lisp-like languages are different from each other. They have different object systems, etc. This question is really about Javascript: how to implement a Java design pattern (Dependency Injection) in Javascript. I'm removing the off-topic tags [clojure] [lisp] and [scheme]. – Kaz Commented Apr 17, 2012 at 19:10
• 5 This is not about javascript. Javascript just happens to be the way I am familiar with in order to express the problem. I am interested in the ways the lisp languages deal with the problem, so I would most appreciate if you put the tags back in. Feel free to rephrase the question in a way that makes sense for Lisp, Clojure or Scheme. – RobotFoo Commented Apr 17, 2012 at 22:13

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2 Answers 2

Sorted by: Reset to default 6

This is typically done using closures/currying. You pass in your dependencies as parameters. In JS you could do:

buildUserGrid = function(dependency){
    return {
        onMustFetch = function(){
            depenency.doSomething();
        },
        doSomethingElse = function(){
            dependency.doSomethingElse();
        }
    }
}

var userGrid = buildUserGrid(ajaxRequest);
userGrid.onMustFetch();

In Javascript I don't know why you couldn't use techniques similar to any OO language. A very basic implementation in JS (sorry, I don't know Coffescript)

// expects a function 
var UserGrid = function(ajaxService) {
    this.dependencies = ["ajaxService"];
     // will be overwritten by the DI service, but can also be 
     // assigned manually as in java
    this.ajaxService = ajaxService;
};
UserGrid.prototype.onMustFetch=function() {
    var callback = function() { ... }
    this.ajaxService('/fetch/users',{ surname: 'MacGyver' }, callback);
};

var diController = {
    create: function(constr) {
        var obj = new constr();
        // just look at obj.dependencies to see what should be assigned, and map
        // the implemenations as properties of obj. this could be
        // as simple as a switch or a direct mapping of names to object types
        // ... assign implementations to obj
        return obj;
    }
};

Create:

var userGrid = diController.create(UserGrid);

So diController does the same thing as your java dependency injector. In java it can just figure out what type of object is needed using reflection. There's not much reflecting to be done in Javascript, so create a convention to tell the system what is needed. In this case I used an array called "dependencies" but you could use any construct you like.

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