Open/Closed Principle (OCP)

As stated by Bertrand Meyer, “software entities (classes, modules, functions, etc.) should be open for extension, but closed for modification.” What does that mean though? This principle basically states that you should allow users to add new functionalities without changing existing code.

Bad:

class AjaxAdapter extends Adapter {
  constructor() {
    super();
  }

  // ...
}

class NodeAdapter extends Adapter {
  constructor() {
    super();
  }

  // ...
}

class HttpRequester {
  constructor(private readonly adapter: Adapter) {}
  async fetch<T>(url: string): Promise<T> {
    if (this.adapter instanceof AjaxAdapter) {
      const response = await makeAjaxCall<T>(url);
      // transform response and return
    } else if (this.adapter instanceof NodeAdapter) {
      const response = await makeHttpCall<T>(url);
      // transform response and return
    }
  }
}

function makeAjaxCall<T>(url: string): Promise<T> {
  // request and return promise
}

function makeHttpCall<T>(url: string): Promise<T> {
  // request and return promise
}

Good:

abstract class Adapter {
  abstract async request<T>(url: string): Promise<T>;

  // code shared to subclasses ...
}

class AjaxAdapter extends Adapter {
  constructor() {
    super();
  }

  async request<T>(url: string): Promise<T> {
    // request and return promise
  }

  // ...
}

class NodeAdapter extends Adapter {
  constructor() {
    super();
  }

  async request<T>(url: string): Promise<T> {
    // request and return promise
  }

  // ...
}

class HttpRequester {
  constructor(private readonly adapter: Adapter) {}
  async fetch<T>(url: string): Promise<T> {
    const response = await this.adapter.request<T>(url);
    // transform response and return
  }
}