Newsletter

ES6 Classes & Tooling, Interacting with the DOM & Regular Expressions

ES6 classes are a great addition to the JavaScript language, and offer an intuitive syntax that is easy to read and understand.

Harrison Jnr

Harrison Jnr

— 3 min read
ES6 Classes & Tooling, Interacting with the DOM & Regular Expressions

💡

ES6 classes are a new feature of JavaScript that allow developers to write more organised and structured code.

Introduction to ES6 Classes

💡

ES6 classes provide a way to create objects and classes in an easier and more efficient manner.

ES6 classes offer a more intuitive syntax that is easy to read and understand, making them a great addition to the JavaScript language.

Syntax

The syntax for creating an ES6 class is relatively simple. To create a class, use the keyword class followed by the name of the class. To add methods to the class, use the keyword constructor followed by the parameters for the class.

To add properties to the class, use the keyword this followed by the property name.

// ES6 Class
class MyClass {
  constructor(param1, param2) {
    this.param1 = param1;
    this.param2 = param2;
  }
}

In the example above, we have created a class called MyClass, with two parameters called param1 and param2. We can then create an instance of the class by using the new keyword as follows:

let myInstance = new MyClass('value1', 'value2');

Tooling

In order to use ES6 classes, you will need to have the appropriate tooling setup in place. This includes a JavaScript compiler such as Babel or Webpack that can convert your ES6 code into JavaScript that can be understood by the browser. Additionally, you may need to use a package manager such as npm or yarn to install the necessary dependencies for your project.

Interacting with the DOM

💡

ES6 classes can be used to interact with the DOM (Document Object Model).

The DOM is a tree-like structure of nodes that represents the HTML and other elements of a web page. With ES6 classes, you can access and manipulate the DOM in a more efficient and organised way.

For example, you can use the document.querySelector() method to select a specific element in the DOM, and then use the methods and properties of the ES6 class to manipulate it.

// Select an element in the DOM
let element = document.querySelector('#my-element');
// Use ES6 class methods to manipulate element
element.setAttribute('data-value', 'my-value');

Regular Expressions

Regular expressions (or “regex”) are a powerful and efficient way to search and manipulate text. They can be used to search for patterns in strings and can be used to validate user input.

Syntax

Regular expressions are written using a specific syntax. To create a regex, you need to enclose the pattern in forward slashes. For example, the pattern “hello” could be written as /hello/.

//regex for "hello"

/hello/

You can also add modifiers to the regex, which specify how the pattern should be matched.

For example, the “i” modifier makes the regex case-insensitive, meaning that it will match both “Hello” and “hello”.

//regex for "hello" that is case insensitive

/hello/i
Examples

You can use regular expressions to search for specific patterns in strings. For example, if you wanted to search for the word “hello” in a string, you could use the following regex:

//regex to search for "hello"

/hello/

You can also use regular expressions to validate user input. For example, if you wanted to validate an email address, you could use the following regex:

//regex to validate an email address

/[a-zA-Z0-9.!#$%&’*+/=?_`{|}~-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9-]+(?:.[a-zA-Z0-9-]+)*$/
Benefits
  • Regular expressions offer many benefits, including increased efficiency and accuracy.
  • They provide a concise and powerful syntax for searching and manipulating text, and can be used to validate user input.
  • They are supported by most modern web browsers, making them a great choice for web development.

Class Materials

In this article, we have explored ES6 classes and their syntax, as well as tooling, interacting with the DOM, and regular expressions. For more information on any of these topics, please refer to the following resources:

Conclusion

They provide a way to create objects and classes in an easier and more efficient manner. Additionally, they can be used to interact with the DOM, and regular expressions can be used to search and manipulate text. With the appropriate tooling in place, ES6 classes can be a great asset to any JavaScript developer.

Read more