RxJS:
"Your mouse is a database... stored in TIME."

Christopher Bloom, @illepic

slides.com/illepic/rxjs

Reactive Programming

  1. Manage asynchronicity
  2. Based on the ReactiveX library
  3. Not just JavaScript: PHP, Java, Python, others

What is a mouse, really?

A long running process that occasionally produces clicks that we may want to respond to. The clicks are a dataset stored across time.

Asynchronicity

Clicks

Keyboard

Websockets

Workers

AJAX

Manage Asynchronicity (ES6)

Callbacks

function doStuff(e) {
  console.log(e.timeStamp);
}
$('#click-me').on('click', doStuff);

Promises

const myPromise = new Promise((resolve, reject) =>
  setTimeout(() => resolve('flerp'), 300)
);
myPromise.then(val => console.log(val));

Observables

// fromEvent turns a browser event into an observable
import { fromEvent } from 'rxjs';

// Simple DOM reference
const button = document.getElementById('click-me');

// Create an observable of button clicks
const myObservable = fromEvent(button, 'click');

Observables

e

e

e

An observable represents a stream, or source of data that can arrive over time. The above "marble diagram" shows an observable created using fromEvent on a DOM element emitting clicks.

 

Observables don't do anything until ...

Subscriptions

Subscriptions set everything in motion

// fromEvent turns a browser event into an observable
import { fromEvent } from 'rxjs';

// Simple DOM reference
const button = document.getElementById('click-me');

// Create an observable of button clicks
const myObservable = fromEvent(button, 'click');

// Do something with these clicks
const mySub = myObservable.subscribe(
  e => console.log(e.timeStamp)
);

Subscriptions

Subscriptions set everything in motion. We provide a function to the .subscribe() method. This function is also call the observer.

App

Subscription

Observable

Operators

import { of } from 'rxjs';
import { map } from 'rxjs/operators';

// Deliver values in a sequence (1 then 2 etc)
const dataSource = of(1, 2, 3, 4, 5);

// subscribe to our source observable
const subscription = dataSource
  .pipe(
    // add 1 to each emitted value
    map(value => value + 1)
  )
  // log: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
  .subscribe(value => console.log(value));

Operators

"The lodash of reactive programming", Operators manipulate values from a source, returning an Observable of the transformed values. Operators are chained together to run complex manipulation on streams.

There's an Operator for that

Pipe

// observable of values from a text box, 
// .pipe() chains operators together
inputValue
  .pipe(
    // wait for a 200ms pause
    debounceTime(200),
    // if the value is the same, ignore
    distinctUntilChanged(),
    // if an updated value comes through while request is still
    // active cancel previous request and 'switch' to new observable
    switchMap(searchTerm => typeaheadApi.search(searchTerm))
  )
  // create a subscription
  .subscribe(results => {
    // update the dom
  });

Pipe

The "assembly line" from your observable through your operators. The output Observable of one Operator becomes the input Observable to the next Operator.

Build a thing

Build a thing

Sources

RxJS

By Christopher Bloom

RxJS

Quick poke at RxJS

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