Introducing Stack

Stack.js began as a simple, academic exercise to explore the utility of linked-lists in JavaScript. I think Nicholas C. Zakas’s article made me curious, initially, but the more I learned, the more I appreciated this simple structure. For instance, programmers can use linked-lists, like arrays, to implement other well-known structures like queues and stacks.

While implementing a stack using a singly-linked list, friends at work were buzzing about Reginald Braithwaite’s JavaScript Allongé. To understand the discussion, I looked up several articles about functional programming, function composition, and mathematical theory. I now had a purpose for Stack, I could use it to create complex compositions with smaller units of code. However, browsers limit the call stack to manage memory–and they’re all different.

In my research, I found another gem by Braithwaite, Trampolines in JavaScript. Trampolines turn a series of nested function calls into an iteration–removing the limits on composition. The factorial function is a classic problem. But since JavaScript does not handle large numbers well, I’ll demonstrate this by summing integers less than n instead of multiplying them.

function sumInts(n) {
    return n === 0 ? 0 : n + sumInts(n - 1);
}

For instance, my build of Chrome can provide an answer for sumInts(15634) but throws a RangeError for 15635 while Safari can go as high as sumInts(34944). When I write the same algorithm as a Stack, it solves even higher numbers (and is only slightly less elegant, IMO).

var sumInts = Stack(function (n) {
    return n === 0 ? this.val : sumInts;
}).push(function (n) {
    this.val += n;
    return n - 1;
});

sumInts.pipe(500000, {val: 0});

So, what do you add to a trampolining, singly-linked, stack implementation? Promises. Promises represent one of the most paradigm-shifting concepts I ever learned in this language–I can’t leave them out.

Check out Stack.js, tell me what you think and what you might build with it.