aget is not to be used on objects

[pkobrien]

At least that's what I got out of a discussion with David Nolen. So the docs and examples here need to be changed and it should probably be pointed out that using aget on anything but an array is a bad idea, even if it currently works.

https://github.com/cljsinfo/cljs-api-docs/blob/catalog/refs/cljs.core_aget.md

[swannodette]

For interacting with objects use the goog.object namespace instead.

[shaunlebron]

@swannodette If this is a semantic issue, perhaps we should (def oget aget). Reason being, goog.object/get isn't multi-arity, so in reality I just see users opting for the incorrectly named function out of convenience.

[shaunlebron]

@pkobrien thanks for filing this issue!

[swannodette]

@shaunlebron we're not going to add oget since goog.object.getValueByKeys already does this :)

[pkobrien]

@shaunlebron You're welcome. :-)

[pkobrien]

Something about this doesn't feel right to me. I don't understand what value the Google Closure implementation adds, since all it does is this:

goog.object.get = function(obj, key, opt_val) {
  if (key in obj) {
    return obj[key];
  }
  return opt_val;
};

Why isn't the advice to simply use aget on arrays and get on objects? What am I missing?

[swannodette]

@pkobrien Oops, I agree. There can be a reference to the variadic thing.

[pkobrien]

@swannodette right. And we've been talking about javascript objects. So I think what you're saying is that aget and get are for accessing cljs types, and if you want to deal directly with plain old js objects you should use goog.object functions. Because that's the design specification of the Clojure/ClojureScript language, and because you're going to tighten up the compiler code in order to improve performance. Am I close? It seems like the host interop issues are more at the surface for ClojureScript developers because it's pretty hard to write a browser app without having to deal with regular js objects, whereas with Clojure you can do a lot without having to deal directly with Java objects.

[swannodette]

@pkobrien ok, sorry I misunderstood what you were saying. Here are the types and the corresponding accessors you should be using:

ILookup - get or get-in
js/Array - aget
js/Object - goog.object/get or goog.object/getValueByKeys

Use the right function for the right type.

[pkobrien]

@swannodette We are on the same page now, thanks. :-)

[shaunlebron]

updated aget and aset, but there is no multi-arity version of goog.object/set I can find.

I'm still voting for oset and oget aliases due to UX. including goog.object isn't a big deal, but js property access should be completely painless core feature, right?

[swannodette]

We're not going to add oset. goog.object is comprehensive enough. Multi-arity set just isn't that important given merging anyway.