MooTools

MooTools provides the user with a number of options beyond 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 principle. • An advanced effects component, with optimized transitions such as easing equations used by many Flash developers. • Enhancements to the DOM, 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, DOM elements, native JavaScript objects, Ajax requests, DOM effects, and more. MooTools also provides a detailed, coherent application programming interface (API), as well as a custom downloads module allowing developers to download only the modules and dependencies they need for a particular app. == History ==

Valerio Proietti first authored the framework and released it in September 2006 taking as his inspiration Prototype and Dean Edward's base2. MooTools originated from Moo.fx, a popular JavaScript effects library 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. It provides simple, basic effects, and guarantees a small library size. 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 == 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. • Natives: A collection of JavaScript 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 object. • Fx: An advanced effects-API to animate page elements. • Request: Includes XHR interface, Cookie, JSON, and HTML retrieval-specific tools for developers to exploit. • Window: Provides a cross-browser interface to client-specific information, such as the dimensions of the window. == Browser compatibility ==

MooTools is compatible and tested with: • Safari 3+ • Internet Explorer 6+ • Mozilla Firefox 2+ • Opera 9+ • Chrome 4+ == 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 intuitively to a developer coming from a class-based inheritance language like Java with the MooTools Class object. Class is an object of key/value pairs containing either properties or methods (functions). Class is effortlessly mixed and extended with other Class instantiations allowing for the most excellent 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. == Object-oriented programming ==

MooTools contains a robust Class creation and inheritance system that resembles most classically based Object-oriented programming languages. 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') }; Object.each(animals, function(animal) { alert(animal.name + ': ' + animal.talk()); }); // alerts the following: // // Missy: Meow! // Mr. Bojangles: Meow! // Lassie: Arf! Arf! == See also ==