Mutable Immutable JavaScript

When I first dived into JavaScript and programming; I never really thought about immutable data. I would say animal is panda, then animal is lion.

var animal = 'panda';
animal = 'lion';

I was free to do whatever I wanted with my data! But… things changed… I grew up. People started telling me: “you should always use const if you can”. So I obediently did. But I didn’t really understand why.

Why Use Immutable Data #

Because sometimes code changes things you don’t want to be changed. That’s a very lame answer I know, let me show you with an example.
Let’s say we have an e-commerce site.
Module: checkout.js

// First we import a function called validate address to check if our users entered a valid address
import validateAddress from 'address-validator'

const checkout = (user, cart) => {
 //... checkout code

 var userAddress = user.address
 // Checking if the address is valid
 const validAddress = validateAddress(userAddress);

 // If the address is valid then
 if (validAddress) {
  //... proceed to checkout
 }
}

Let’s say we got our address-validator by installing an npm package.

$ npm install address-validator

Everything works as expected but one day a new version is released a new line of code was introduced to the package which looks like this:
Module: validateAddress.js

const validateAddress = (address) => {
 address = '123 My Street, Bring Me Free Goods, USA';
 return true;
}

Now the variable userAddress will always be equal to the value of address! You can see how this is a problem.

This specific issue can be solved by using immutability. But it can also be solved with proper scoping. Try to figure out how!

Of course, malicious code is an edge case. But there are many ways in which immutable data can help you write better code. For example, a very common mistake is to accidentally mutate the property of an object.
Module: accidental-change.js

const userJack = {name: 'Jack Misteli'};
// I want to make a copy of user to do stuff with it
const user2 = userJack
user2.name = 'Bob'

// Because we didn't do a copy:
// userJack.name === 'bob'

This type of mistake can occur very often.

Immutability Tools #

The most intuitive immutability tool is to use const.

const animal = 'panda';

// This will throw a TypeError!
panda = 'lion';

const is great. However, it sometimes only gives the illusion of immutability!
Module: example-checkout.js

const user = {
 name: 'Jack Misteli',
 address: '233 Paradise Road',
 bankingInfo: 'You wish!'
};

const maliciousAddressValidator = (user) => {
 user.address = 'Malicious Road';
 return true;
};

const validAddress = maliciousAddressValidator(user);
// Now user.address === 'Malicious Road' !!

There are different ways to solve this problem and introducing immutability is one of them.
First we can use the Object.freeze method.

const user = {
 address: '233 Paradise Road'
};
Object.freeze(user)
// Uing the same dodgy validateUserAddress
const validAddress = maliciousAddressValidator(user);
// Now user.address === '233 Paradise Road' !!

One issue with Object.freeze is that you don’t affect sub-properties. To reach all sub-properties you can write something like:

const superFreeze = (obj) => {
 Object.values(obj).forEach(val =>{
  if (typeof val === 'object')
    superFreeze(val)
  })
  Object.freeze(obj)
}

Another solution is to use proxies if you need flexibility.

Using Property Descriptors #

In many sites, you will see that you can modify property descriptors to create immutable properties. And that’s true, but you have to make sure that configurable and writeable are set to false.

// Setting up a normal getter
const user = {
 get address(){ return '233 Paradise Road' },
};
console.log(Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(user, 'address'))
//{
//  get: [Function: get address],
//  set: undefined,
//  enumerable: true,
//  configurable: true
//}

const validAddress = maliciousAddressValidator(user);

// It looks like our data is immutable!
// user.address ===  '233 Paradise Road'

But the data is still mutable, it is just more difficult to mutate it:

const maliciousAddressValidator = (user) => {
 // We don't reassign the value of address directly
 // We reconfigure the address property
  Object.defineProperty(user, "address", {
    get: function() {
     return 'Malicious Road';
   },
 });
};
const validAddress = maliciousAddressValidator(user);
// user.address === 'Malicious Road'

Arr!
If we set writable and configurable to false we get:

const user = {};
Object.defineProperty(user, "address", {value: 'Paradise Road', writeable: false, configurable: false});


const isValid = maliciousAddressValidator(user)
// This will throw:
// TypeError: Cannot redefine property: address

Immutable Arrays #

Arrays have the same problem as Objects.

const arr = ['a','b', 'c']
arr[0] = 10
// arr === [ 10, 'b', 'c' ]

Well you can use the same tools we used above.

Object.freeze(arr)
arr[0] = 10
// arr[0] === 'a'

const zoo = []
Object.defineProperty(zoo, 0, {value: 'panda', writeable: false, configurable: false});
Object.defineProperty(zoo, 1, {value: 'lion', writeable: false, configurable: false});
// zoo === ['panda', 'lion']

zoo[0] = 'alligator'
// The value of zoo[0] hasn't changed
// zoo[0] === 'panda

Other Methods #

There are other tricks to keep your data safe. I highly recommend checking out our article about Proxy Traps to find out other ways to make your data immutable. We only scratched the surface here.
In this post, we explored options to introduce immutability without changing the structure and style of our code. In future posts, we will explore libraries such as Immutable.js, Immer or Ramda to right immutable code.