Hi! This is my first DEV post. Recently I had to use some sets in my Javascript code that needed to contain objects as items. The problem is the browser Set object compares their items by equality. So I decide to create a micro-library in which you can use sets that can handle all the set operation comaprinf the items with an id as a key.

Let me introduce you to the library SmartSet

Installation

If you want to use my library you can install it easily by npm or yarn.

npm install smart-set

yarn add smart-set

Creation and operations

The SmartSet class extends the Set class, so every member of Set is available, and compatible with the Set interface.

Constructor

SmartSet has two template paramters:

• T is the type of items
• ID is the type of the key (must be primitive)

SmartSet constructor requires a function that determines the id of an item which should be unique and primitive. The second parameter is a list of items of T, which will be the starting data of the set. These items will be unique in the set.

import { SmartSet } from "smart-set";

interface Data { id: string };

const mySet = new SmartSet<Data, string>(item => item.id, [{ id: 'id1' }, { id: 'id2' }, { id: 'id1' }]);

Addition

The add(item: T) and addAll(items: T[]) functions add item(s) to the set uniquely by the given id function.

mySet.add({ id: 'id3' });
mySet.add({ id: 'id1' });
mySet.addAll([{ id: 'id1' }, { id: 'id4' }, { id: 'id5' }]);

Deletion

The delete(item: T) and deleteId(id: ID) functions delete an item by the given id function.
The clear() function deletes all elements.

mySet.delete({ id: 'id3' });
mySet.deleteId('id1');
mySet.clear();

Containment

The has(item: T): boolean and hasId(id: ID): boolean check whether an item is part of the set by the given id function.

mySet.has({ id: 'id3' }) === false;
mySet.hasId('id1') === true;

Iteration

SmartSet is iterable and has the keys(): IterableIterator<ID>, values(): IterableIterator<T> and entries(): IterableIterator<[ID, T]> functions for iterating the set. Keys are the values of the ID type.

const mySet = new SmartSet<Data, string>(item => item.id, [{ id: 'id1' }, { id: 'id2' }, { id: 'id3' }]);

[...mySet.keys()] === ['id1', 'id2', 'id3'];

[...mySet.values()] === [{ id: 'id1' }, { id: 'id2' }, { id: 'id3' }];

[...mySet.entries()] === [['id1', { id: 'id1' }], ['id2', { id: 'id2' }], ['id3', { id: 'id3' }]];

[...mySet] === [{ id: 'id1' }, { id: 'id2' }, { id: 'id3' }];

mySet.forEach((value, key, set) => { /* something with the key, value and set */ })

Set operations

SmartSet has some set operation that corresponds to the mathematics representation. These operations are immutable, so they return a new SmartSet instance and does not modify the original set. The methods accept regular Set objects, because it runs the ID creation function on the items.

union(other: Set<T>): SmartSet<T, ID>

intersection(other: Set<T>): SmartSet<T, ID>

difference(other: Set<T>): SmartSet<T, ID>

symmetricDifference(other: Set<T>): SmartSet<T, ID>

let result;
const setA = new SmartSet<Data, string>(item => item.s, [ { s: '1' }, { s: '2' } ]);
const setB = new SmartSet<Data, string>(item => item.s, [ { s: '1' }, { s: '3' } ]);

result = setA.union(setB); //  [ { s: '1' }, { s: '2' }, { s: '3' } ]
result = setA.intersection(setB); //  [ { s: '1' } ]
result = setA.difference(setB); //  [ { s: '2' } ]
result = setB.difference(setA); //  [ { s: '3' } ]
result = setA.symmetricDifference(setB); //  [ { s: '2' }, { s: '3' } ]

Closing words

As I am new to library publishing and open source world it would be a huge help if you could take a look at my source code or report an issue at the repository of the package at github. Thanks for reading my first post.