In this article, we will show that the only collection method you need is the Array.prototype.reduce.
Note that this is only to demonstrate all the other methods are only a special case of the reduce.
Only Array methods that don't change the original array will be demostrated.
What is the Array.prototype.reduce
The reduce method is a function that transforms a collection (array) of elements into a single value.
A single value can also be another collection.
We can divide the application of the reduce into 3 equivalent classes.
- Type 1 reduce that returns a single Object/number/string, that reduce the collection to another type
- Type 2 reduce that returns another collection with the same number of elements
- Type 3 reduce that returns another collection with a different number of elements
// Type 1: the sum of the elements of an array
const sum = [1, 2, 3].reduce((acc, value) => acc + value, 0)
// Type 2: convert an array of number to an array of strings
const strings = [1, 2, 3].reduce((acc, value) => [...acc, String(1)], [])
// Type 3: remove even elements
const randoms = [1, 2, 4].reduce((acc, value) => {
if (value%2 === 0) return acc
return [...acc, value]
}, [])
Implemtations
Array.prototype.map
The map method creates a new array with the results of calling a function for every array element.
It is useful to transform all the elements of an array.
Example
// calculate the spare root of all the elements of the array
const result = [4, 9, 16].map((value) => Math.sqrt(value)) // => [2, 3, 4]
It's a Type 2 reduce that return always the same number of elements.
Implementation using reduce:
const map = (array, callbackfn) => array
.reduce((acc, value, i, thisArg) => [...acc, callbackfn(value, i, thisArg)], [])
Array.prototype.filter
The filter method creates an array filled with all array elements that pass a test (provided as a function).
Example
// return all the even elements
const result = [1, 2, 3].filter((value) => value % 2 === 0) // => [2]
It's a Type 3 reduce that can return an array with a different number of elements.
Implementation using reduce:
const map = (array, predicate) => array
.reduce((acc, value, i, thisArg) => {
if (predicate(value, i, thisArg)) return [...acc, value];
return acc;
}, [])
Array.prototype.some
The some method checks if any of the elements in an array pass a test (provided as a function).
Example
// check if the array contains an even number
const containsAnEven = [1, 2, 3].some((value) => value % 2 === 0) // => true
It's a Type 1 reduce that returns a single value, in this case, a boolean.
Implementation using reduce:
const some = (array, predicate) => array
.reduce((acc, value, i, thisArg) => (acc || predicate(value, i, thisArg)), false)
Array.prototype.every
The every method checks if all the elements in an array pass a test (provided as a function).
Example
// check if all the elementens of the array are even number
const allEven = [1, 2, 3].some((value) => value % 2 === 0) // => false
It's a Type 1 reduce that returns a single value, in this case, a boolean.
Implementation using reduce:
const every = (array, predicate) => array
.reduce((acc, value, i, thisArg) => (acc && predicate(value, i, thisArg)), true)
Array.prototype.join
The join method returns an array as a string concatenating the elements using a separator.
Example
// join all strings using a space
const helloDevs = ['Hello', 'Devs'].join(' ') // => "Hello Devs"
It's a Type 1 reduce that returns a single value, in this case, a string.
Implementation using reduce:
const join = (array, separator) => array
.reduce((acc, value, i, thisArg) => (acc + separator + value), '')
Array.prototype.flat
The flat method creates a new array with the elements of the subarrays concatenated into it.
Example
const results = [1, [2, 3]].flat() // => [1, 2, 3]
It's a Type 3 reduce that can return an array with more elements than the original.
Implementation using reduce:
const flat = (array, level = 1) => array
.reduce((acc, value, i, thisArg) => {
if (!level) return [...acc, value]
if (Array.isArray(value)) return [...acc, ...flat(value, level - 1)]
return [...acc, value]
}, '')
🙏 Please give me some feedback in the comments 🙏
Top comments (7)
And with this knowledge you can go one step further and implement those methods as transducers. I've never used them myself, but they are fun to learn.
It might be me but I don't think your flat implementation is working as intended. Nice topic though.
What about this implementation instead?. I tried to be as close as possible to the ECMA standard.
Actually "some" returns true if it finds an element that passes the test. It doesn't iterate the whole array as reduce would do.
The same is true for "every", it returns false when it finds an element that doesn't pass the test. Again, it doesn't iterate the whole array in that case.
I know that 😊
The only thing you need is
whileloop.If you want to program high-level, you do need those constructs.
However, nice article, as
reduce()is less known than its friends :)It's powerful indeed, tho I always need to look up the sequence of parameters: accumulator, currentValue, currentIndex, array 😀😀
Me too 🤣🤣🤣