javascript - Asynchronous constructor

Question

How can I best handle a situation like the following?

I have a constructor that takes a while to complete.

var Element = function Element(name){
   this.name = name;
   this.nucleus = {};

   this.load_nucleus(name); // This might take a second.
}

var oxygen = new Element('oxygen');
console.log(oxygen.nucleus); // Returns {}, because load_nucleus hasn't finished.

I see three options, each of which seem out of the ordinary.

One, add a callback to the constructor.

var Element = function Element(name, fn){
   this.name = name;
   this.nucleus = {};

   this.load_nucleus(name, function(){
      fn(); // Now continue.
   });
}

Element.prototype.load_nucleus(name, fn){
   fs.readFile(name+'.json', function(err, data) {
      this.nucleus = JSON.parse(data); 
      fn();
   });
}

var oxygen = new Element('oxygen', function(){  
   console.log(oxygen.nucleus);
});

Two, use EventEmitter to emit a 'loaded' event.

var Element = function Element(name){
   this.name = name;
   this.nucleus = {};

   this.load_nucleus(name); // This might take a second.
}

Element.prototype.load_nucleus(name){
   var self = this;
   fs.readFile(name+'.json', function(err, data) {
      self.nucleus = JSON.parse(data); 
      self.emit('loaded');
   });
}

util.inherits(Element, events.EventEmitter);

var oxygen = new Element('oxygen');
oxygen.once('loaded', function(){
   console.log(this.nucleus);
});

Or three, block the constructor.

var Element = function Element(name){
   this.name = name;
   this.nucleus = {};

   this.load_nucleus(name); // This might take a second.
}

Element.prototype.load_nucleus(name, fn){
   this.nucleus = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(name+'.json'));
}

var oxygen = new Element('oxygen');
console.log(oxygen.nucleus)

But I haven't seen any of this done before.

What other options do I have?

Answer 1

Update 2: Here is an updated example using an asynchronous factory method. N.B. this requires Node 8 or Babel if run in a browser.

class Element {
    constructor(nucleus){
        this.nucleus = nucleus;
    }

    static async createElement(){
        const nucleus = await this.loadNucleus();
        return new Element(nucleus);
    }

    static async loadNucleus(){
        // do something async here and return it
        return 10;
    }
}

async function main(){
    const element = await Element.createElement();
    // use your element
}

main();

Update: The code below got upvoted a couple of times. However I find this approach using a static method much better: https://stackoverflow.com/a/24686979/2124586

ES6 version using promises

class Element{
    constructor(){
        this.some_property = 5;
        this.nucleus;

        return new Promise((resolve) => {
            this.load_nucleus().then((nucleus) => {
                this.nucleus = nucleus;
                resolve(this);
            });
        });
    }

    load_nucleus(){
        return new Promise((resolve) => {
            setTimeout(() => resolve(10), 1000)
        });
    }
}

//Usage
new Element().then(function(instance){
    // do stuff with your instance
});