Basil.js – Smart persistence layer

https://github.com/Wisembly/basil.js

by guillaumepotier • 12 years ago

77 23 12 years ago

github.com

cobalt27604• 12 years ago

That seems promising. Would be great to have FIFO and LIFO storage mechanism here like in redis!

nawitus3• 12 years ago

Why do you need a mechanism for that instead of using arrays?

cobalt27604• 12 years ago

Instead of getting an array from storage, pushing a new item inside and then storing it again, it could be nice to have directly this small mechaniam built in to avoid this logic in the application.

mixonic• 12 years ago

Synchronous persistence APIs should be considered dangerous. Often they solve the immediate problem, but when you eventually need to move to an async storage solution (and in JavaScript any significantly complex task eventually becomes async) you are left with code that presumes sync behavior. This makes it difficult to refactor.

Providing an API with callbacks or better yet promises forces you to write future-safe code.

vivab0rg• 12 years ago

This. I recently moved to localForage[1] and have been mostly satisfied so far. Thanks Mozilla!

[1] http://mozilla.github.io/localForage/

cobalt27604• 12 years ago

It might be a little bit "overkill" when you just want to perform storage only on client device no? (Basil aim is not to override backend storage like REST APIs)

nawitus3• 12 years ago

That's a good point. The same issue seems to exist with almost every JavaScript function interface. Whether or not a function is synchronous or asynchronous seems to be an implementation detail (at least in theory), but that fact must be exposed in the function interface.

I think the main issue is actually with language design. Callbacks and promises are not decent ways to handle asynchronity in my opinion. Perhaps it could be abstracted away in the language itself in a way that the function interface would be identical for both "sync" and async functions..

ef4• 12 years ago

I came here to say the exact same thing.

Even if you're using synchronous storage, wrap it in an asynchronous API and save yourself a world of hurt later.

iamkoby• 12 years ago

looks great!

prayerslayer• 12 years ago

What about lawnchair?

http://brian.io/lawnchair/

thomasjonas• 12 years ago

There's a project with the same name out there: http://basiljs.ch/ This made me wonder: how to deal with similar named open source projects? Although the goals of both projects aren't related in any sense it could cause for some confusion...

notduncansmith2• 12 years ago

Do lots of searching before naming your projects, I suppose. Surely he could have used Rosemary.js, or Herb.js, or Bayleaf.js?

gcb0• 12 years ago

or something even remotely related to ... who knows... data storage?

jonahx• 12 years ago

So is this wrapper over cookie and localStorage that takes care of browser differences and idiosyncrasies for you? Or is it more than that?

cobalt27604• 12 years ago

It also ensure you that your usage of localstorage won't ever throw exceptions and break all your thread in the case of cookie-less anonymized sessions

mrinterweb• 12 years ago

I would recommend Mozilla's localforage https://github.com/mozilla/localForage. Basil.js takes care of abstracting cookie, session, memory, and localstorage storage options, but localforage provides an abstraction for localStorage, WebSQL, or IndexedDB. With modern applications I find that I often want more storage available. Cookie storage is limited at 4Kb, localStorage (5Mb), sessionStorage (same as localStorage), IndexedDB (50Mb), and WebSQL (50Mb). Localforage will automatically select the best available storage system for the browser. While WebSQL and IndexedDB allow for advanced queries, localforage must cater to the lowest common denominator, localStorage key value pairs. While being restricted to key value pair storage, this is often not a big concern considering how different the WebSQL and IndexedDB APIs are.

Tyrant505• 12 years ago

Thank you for breaking it down like this. I never saw it layed out ~specifically like this.

thrush• 12 years ago

Great idea. The next progression would be cross browser benchmarks, and perhaps something suitable for browser extensions (unless this already works for that use case).

elwell• 12 years ago

Maybe I'm being dumb, but I think this could benefit from the inclusion of a Why? section.

rectangletangle• 12 years ago

Lol, I made a library a while back that does the same thing (https://github.com/rectangletangle/jSave). Maybe it's a sign that a larger project needs to be started?

owenversteeg• 12 years ago

Love the name. (For those that don't get the joke, basil is an extremely persistent, almost weedlike plant.) That said, I think an async solution would be better, like localforage.

Basil.js – Smart persistence layer

Related Stories