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A quick intro to Naught
-------------------------

#### What's all this now then?

Naught is a toolkit for building [Null
Objects](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_Object_pattern) in Ruby.

#### What's that supposed to mean?

Null Objects can make your code more
[confident](http://confidentruby.com).

Here's a method that's not very sure of itself.

```ruby
class Geordi
  def make_it_so(logger=nil)
    logger && logger.info("Reversing the flux phase capacitance!")
    logger && logger.info("Bounding a tachyon particle beam off of Data's cat!")
    logger && logger.warn("Warning, bogon levels are rising!")
  end
end
```

Now, observe as we give it a dash of confidence with the Null Object
pattern!

```ruby
class NullLogger
  def debug(*); end
  def info(*); end
  def warn(*); end
  def error(*); end
  def fatal(*); end
end

class Geordi
  def make_it_so(logger=NullLogger.new)
    logger.info "Reversing the flux phase capacitance!"
    logger.info "Bounding a tachyon particle beam off of Data's cat!"
    logger.warn "Warning, bogon levels are rising!"
  end
end
```

By providing a `NullLogger` which implements [some of] the `Logger`
interface as no-op methods, we've gotten rid of those unsightly `&&`
operators.

#### That was simple enough. Why do I need a library for it?

You don't! The Null Object pattern is a very simple one at its core.

#### And yet here we are…

Yes. While you don't *need* a Null Object library, this one offers some
conveniences you probably won't find elsewhere.

But there's an even more important reason I wrote this library. In the
immortal last words of James T. Kirk: "It was… *fun!*"

#### OK, so how do I use this thing?

Well, what would you like to do?

#### I dunno, gimme an object that responds to any message with nil

Sure thing!

```ruby
require 'naught'

NullObject = Naught.build

null = NullObject.new
null.foo                        # => nil
null.bar                        # => nil
```

#### That was… weird. What's with this "build" business?

Naught is a *toolkit* for building null object classes. It is not a
one-size-fits-all solution.

What else can I make for you?

#### How about a "black hole" null object that supports infinite chaining of methods?

OK.

```ruby
require 'naught'

BlackHole = Naught.build do |config|
  config.black_hole
end

null = BlackHole.new
null.foo                           # => <null>
null.foo.bar.baz                   # => <null>
null << "hello" << "world"         # => <null>
```

#### What's that "config" thing?

That's what you use to customize the generated class to your
liking. Internally, Naught uses the [Builder
Pattern](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Builder_pattern) to make this work..

#### Whatever. What if I want a null object that has conversions to Integer, String, etc. using sensible conversions to "zero values"?

We can do that.

```ruby
require 'naught'

NullObject = Naught.build do |config|
  config.define_explicit_conversions
end

null = NullObject.new

null.to_s                          # => ""
null.to_i                          # => 0
null.to_f                          # => 0.0
null.to_a                          # => []
null.to_h                          # => {}
null.to_c                          # => (0+0i)
null.to_r                          # => (0/1)
```

#### Ah, but what about implicit conversions such as `#to_str`? Like what if I want a null object that implicitly splats the same way as an empty array?

Gotcha covered.

```ruby
require 'naught'

NullObject = Naught.build do |config|
  config.define_implicit_conversions
end

null = NullObject.new

null.to_str                     # => ""
null.to_ary                     # => []

a, b, c = []
a                               # => nil
b                               # => nil
c                               # => nil
x, y, z = null
x                               # => nil
y                               # => nil
z                               # => nil
```

#### How about a null object that only stubs out the methods from a specific class?

That's what `mimic` is for.

```ruby
require 'naught'

NullIO = Naught.build do |config|
  config.mimic IO
end

null_io = NullIO.new

null_io << "foo"                # => nil
null_io.readline                # => nil
null_io.foobar                  # =>
# ~> -:11:in `<main>': undefined method `foobar' for
#  <null:IO>:NullIO (NoMethodError)
```

There is also `impersonate` which takes `mimic` one step further. The
generated null class will be derived from the impersonated class. This
is handy when refitting legacy code that contains type checks.

```ruby
require 'naught'

NullIO = Naught.build do |config|
  config.impersonate IO
end

null_io = NullIO.new
IO === null_io                  # => true

case null_io
when IO
  puts "Yep, checks out!"
  null_io << "some output"
else
  raise "Hey, I expected an IO!"
end
# >> Yep, checks out!
```

#### What about predicate methods? You know, the ones that end with question marks? Shouldn't they return `false` instead of `nil`?

Sure, if you'd like.

```ruby
require 'naught'

NullObject = Naught.build do |config|
  config.predicates_return false
end

null = NullObject.new
null.foo                        # => nil
null.bar?                       # => false
null.nil?                       # => false
```

#### Alright smartypants. What if I want to add my own methods?

Not a problem, just define them in the `.build` block.

```ruby
require 'naught'

NullObject = Naught.build do |config|
  config.define_explicit_conversions
  config.predicates_return false
  def to_path
    "/dev/null"
  end

  # You can override methods generated by Naught
  def to_s
    "NOTHING TO SEE HERE MOVE ALONG"
  end

  def nil?
    true
  end
end

null = NullObject.new
null.to_path                    # => "/dev/null"
null.to_s                       # => "NOTHING TO SEE HERE MOVE ALONG"
null.nil?                       # => true
```

#### Got anything else up your sleeve?

Well, we can make the null class a singleton, since null objects
generally have no state.

```ruby
require 'naught'

NullObject = Naught.build do |config|
  config.singleton
end

null = NullObject.instance

null.__id__                     # => 17844080
NullObject.instance.__id__      # => 17844080
NullObject.new                  # =>
# ~> -:11:in `<main>': private method `new' called for
#  NullObject:Class (NoMethodError)
```

Speaking of null objects with state, we can also enable tracing. This is
handy for playing "where'd that null come from?!" Try doing *that* with
`nil`!

```ruby
require 'naught'

NullObject = Naught.build do |config|
  config.traceable
end

null = NullObject.new           # line 7

null.__file__                   # => "example.rb"
null.__line__                   # => 7
```

We can even conditionally enable either singleton mode (for production)
or tracing (for development). Here's an example of using the `$DEBUG`
global variable (set with the `-d` option to ruby) to choose which one.

```ruby
require 'naught'

NullObject = Naught.build do |config|
  if $DEBUG
    config.traceable
  else
    config.singleton
  end
end
```

The only caveat is that when swapping between singleton and
non-singleton implementations, you should be careful to always
instantiate your null objects with `NullObject.get`, not `.new` or
`.instance`. `.get` will work whether the class is implemented as a
singleton or not.

```ruby
NullObject.get                  # => <null>
```

#### And if I want to know legacy code better?

Naught can make a null object behave as a pebble object.

```ruby
require 'naught'

NullObject = Naught.build do |config|
  if $DEBUG
    config.pebble
  else
    config.black_hole
  end
end
```

Now you can pass the pebble object to your code and see which messages are sent to the pebble.

```ruby
null = NullObject.new

class MyConsumer < Struct.new(:producer)
  def consume
    producer.produce
  end
end

MyConsumer.new(null).consume
# >> produce() from consume
# => <null>
```

#### Are you done yet?

Just one more thing. For maximum convenience, Naught-generated null
classes also come with a full suite of conversion functions which can be
included into your classes.

```ruby
require 'naught'

NullObject = Naught.build

include NullObject::Conversions

# Convert nil to null objects. Everything else passes through.
Maybe(42)                       # => 42
Maybe(nil)                      # => <null>
Maybe(NullObject.get)           # => <null>
Maybe{ 42 }                     # => 42

# Insist on a non-null (or nil) value
Just(42)                        # => 42
Just(nil) rescue $!             # => #<ArgumentError: Null value: nil>
Just(NullObject.get) rescue $!  # => #<ArgumentError: Null value: <null>>

# nils and nulls become nulls. Everything else is rejected.
Null()                          # => <null>
Null(42) rescue $!              # => #<ArgumentError: 42 is not null!>
Null(nil)                       # => <null>
Null(NullObject.get)            # => <null>

# Convert nulls back to nils. Everything else passes through. Useful
# for preventing null objects from "leaking" into public API return
# values.
Actual(42)                      # => 42
Actual(nil)                     # => nil
Actual(NullObject.get)          # => nil
Actual { 42 }                   # => 42
```

Installation
--------------

``` {.example}
gem install naught
```

Requirements
--------------

-   Ruby 1.9

Contributing
--------------

-   Fork, branch, submit PR, blah blah blah. Don't forget tests.

Who's responsible
-------------------

Naught is by [Avdi Grimm](http://devblog.avdi.org/).

Prior Art
---------

This isn't the first Ruby Null Object library. Others to check out include:

 - [NullAndVoid](https://github.com/jfelchner/null_and_void)
 - [BlankSlate](https://github.com/saturnflyer/blank_slate)


Further reading
-----------------

-   [Null Object: Something for
    Nothing](http://www.two-sdg.demon.co.uk/curbralan/papers/europlop/NullObject.pdf)
    (PDF) by Kevlin Henney
-   [The Null Object
    Pattern](http://www.cs.oberlin.edu/~jwalker/refs/woolf.ps) (PS) by
    Bobby Woolf
-   [NullObject](http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?NullObject) on WikiWiki
-   [Null Object
    pattern](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_Object_pattern) on
    Wikipedia
-   [Null Objects and
    Falsiness](http://devblog.avdi.org/2011/05/30/null-objects-and-falsiness/),
    by Avdi Grimm