How to use Shades with React or Redux state?

Integrate Shades' `mod` or `set` functions in reducers or state updaters to apply immutable changes. For example, in a Redux reducer, use `mod('users', userId, 'name')(newName)(state)` to update a user's name without mutation.

Shades vs lodash for immutable updates?

Shades focuses specifically on lens-based immutable transformations with TypeScript safety, while lodash offers broader utilities but often requires manual immutability. Shades is lighter (<5kb) but has a steeper learning curve for lens concepts.

How to create a custom lens for derived data in Shades?

Define a virtual lens with `get` and `mod` methods, as shown in the Virtual Lenses section. For instance, to convert temperatures, create a lens that transforms between units using custom getter and modifier functions.

Does Shades support async operations or Promises?

Shades is designed for synchronous data manipulation; while collection functions can handle Promises if wrapped, async lenses are not a core feature, so you may need to adapt patterns for asynchronous flows.

How to filter an array of objects based on nested properties with Shades?

Use the `filter` function with an into pattern, such as `filter({ posts: includes({ likes: greaterThan(10) }) })` from the API examples, to select items matching complex criteria across nested structures.

shades — Lodash-Inspired Lens Library

Q: How to create a custom lens for derived data in Shades?

Define a virtual lens with `get` and `mod` methods, as shown in the Virtual Lenses section. For instance, to convert temperatures, create a lens that transforms between units using custom getter and modifier functions.

Q: Does Shades support async operations or Promises?

Shades is designed for synchronous data manipulation; while collection functions can handle Promises if wrapped, async lenses are not a core feature, so you may need to adapt patterns for asynchronous flows.

Q: How to filter an array of objects based on nested properties with Shades?

Use the `filter` function with an into pattern, such as `filter({ posts: includes({ likes: greaterThan(10) }) })` from the API examples, to select items matching complex criteria across nested structures.

What is shades?

Shades is a JavaScript library that implements lens-like utilities for declarative data access and immutable updates. It solves the problem of verbose and error-prone code when modifying nested objects by providing a composable API similar to lodash but focused on immutable transformations. The library offers type-safe operations in TypeScript and works across various collection types.

Target Audience

JavaScript and TypeScript developers working with immutable data patterns, such as those using Redux, React state, or functional programming paradigms. It's particularly useful for developers managing complex nested state structures.

Value Proposition

Developers choose Shades for its concise syntax, strong TypeScript integration, and ability to replace cumbersome spread operations with declarative lens compositions. Its zero dependencies and small bundle size make it a lightweight alternative to larger utility libraries.

A lodash-inspired lens-like library for Javascript

Use Cases

Best For

Updating deeply nested state in Redux or React applications
Transforming immutable data structures without verbose boilerplate
Writing type-safe data accessors and modifiers in TypeScript
Applying uniform changes across collections (e.g., incrementing all likes in posts)
Creating reusable data traversal utilities for complex object shapes
Simplifying code that manipulates arrays, objects, Maps, and Sets polymorphically

Not Ideal For

Projects with flat, simple data structures where direct property access is straightforward and lens abstraction adds unnecessary complexity.
Teams prioritizing maximum runtime performance for large-scale, frequent data mutations, as lens operations may introduce overhead compared to direct manipulations.
Environments not using TypeScript, since much of Shades' value comes from its robust compile-time type safety features.
Developers unfamiliar with functional programming concepts like lenses and traversals, as the learning curve can be steep without prior exposure.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Declarative Immutable Updates

Replaces verbose spread operator boilerplate with concise lens compositions, as shown in the README's comparison where `mod` updates a nested title in one line versus multiple nested spreads.

Strong TypeScript Integration

Offers full type safety with compile-time error checking for lens paths and value types, highlighted in the typings section where incorrect property names or type mismatches trigger errors.

Polymorphic Collection Functions

Provides utilities like `map` and `filter` that work seamlessly across arrays, objects, Maps, and Sets, demonstrated in the API examples for consistent data transformation.

Composable Lens API

Enables chaining lenses and traversals such as `all` and `matching` to focus on multiple elements, allowing complex data navigation and updates in a declarative manner.

Cons

Steep Learning Curve

Requires understanding of lens theory and functional programming patterns, which may be unfamiliar to JavaScript developers used to imperative code, as evidenced by the detailed guide and concepts like virtual lenses.

Niche Ecosystem

Has a smaller community and fewer resources compared to libraries like lodash or Ramda, which can limit support, tutorials, and third-party integrations for edge cases.

Performance Trade-offs

Lens abstractions may introduce runtime overhead for deep or frequent updates, though not benchmarked in the README, this is a common downside of higher-level immutable data utilities.

What is shades?

Target Audience

Value Proposition

Use Cases

Best For

Updating deeply nested state in Redux or React applications
Transforming immutable data structures without verbose boilerplate
Writing type-safe data accessors and modifiers in TypeScript
Applying uniform changes across collections (e.g., incrementing all likes in posts)
Creating reusable data traversal utilities for complex object shapes
Simplifying code that manipulates arrays, objects, Maps, and Sets polymorphically

Not Ideal For

Projects with flat, simple data structures where direct property access is straightforward and lens abstraction adds unnecessary complexity.
Teams prioritizing maximum runtime performance for large-scale, frequent data mutations, as lens operations may introduce overhead compared to direct manipulations.
Environments not using TypeScript, since much of Shades' value comes from its robust compile-time type safety features.
Developers unfamiliar with functional programming concepts like lenses and traversals, as the learning curve can be steep without prior exposure.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Declarative Immutable Updates

Replaces verbose spread operator boilerplate with concise lens compositions, as shown in the README's comparison where `mod` updates a nested title in one line versus multiple nested spreads.

Strong TypeScript Integration

Offers full type safety with compile-time error checking for lens paths and value types, highlighted in the typings section where incorrect property names or type mismatches trigger errors.

Polymorphic Collection Functions

Provides utilities like `map` and `filter` that work seamlessly across arrays, objects, Maps, and Sets, demonstrated in the API examples for consistent data transformation.

Composable Lens API

Enables chaining lenses and traversals such as `all` and `matching` to focus on multiple elements, allowing complex data navigation and updates in a declarative manner.

Cons

Steep Learning Curve

Niche Ecosystem

Has a smaller community and fewer resources compared to libraries like lodash or Ramda, which can limit support, tutorials, and third-party integrations for edge cases.

Performance Trade-offs

Lens abstractions may introduce runtime overhead for deep or frequent updates, though not benchmarked in the README, this is a common downside of higher-level immutable data utilities.

shades

What is shades?

Overview

Use Cases

Best For

Not Ideal For

Pros & Cons

Pros

Cons

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Projects

Found a gem we're missing?

shades

What is shades?

Overview

Use Cases

Best For

Not Ideal For

Pros & Cons

Pros

Cons

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Projects

Found a gem we're missing?