MooTools

MooTools (My Object-Oriented Tools) is a lightweight, object-oriented JavaScript framework. It is released under the free, open-source MIT License.

Overview

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'
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 to offer greater control of the Document Object Model (DOM).

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.jQuery versus Mootools
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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();

var Cat = new Class();

var Dog = new Class();

var animals = ;

Object.each(animals, function(animal) );

// alerts the following:
//
// Missy: Meow!
// Mr. Bojangles: Meow!
// Lassie: Arf! Arf!

See also

* Ajax framework
* Rich Internet application
* Web 2.0
* Comparison of JavaScript frameworks
* XMLHttpRequest
* JavaScript framework
* JavaScript library

References

Further reading

"The Introduction to MooTools Architecture"
''Applied Mechanics and Materials''.
"Interactive Consultation Based on MooTools Long Polling Techniques"
''Applied Mechanics and Materials''.
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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mootools
JavaScript libraries
Ajax (programming)
Software using the MIT license
Web frameworks