Question

How could I generalise the function below to take N arguments? (Using call or apply?)

Is there a programmatic way to apply arguments to ‘new’? I don’t want the constructor to be treated like a plain function.

/**
 * This higher level function takes a constructor and arguments
 * and returns a function, which when called will return the 
 * lazily constructed value.
 * 
 * All the arguments, except the first are pased to the constructor.
 * 
 * @param {Function} constructor
 */ 

function conthunktor(Constructor) {
    var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 1);
    return function() {
        console.log(args);
        if (args.length === 0) {
            return new Constructor();
        }
        if (args.length === 1) {
            return new Constructor(args[0]);
        }
        if (args.length === 2) {
            return new Constructor(args[0], args[1]);
        }
        if (args.length === 3) {
            return new Constructor(args[0], args[1], args[2]);
        }
        throw("too many arguments");    
    }
}

qUnit test:

test("conthunktorTest", function() {
    function MyConstructor(arg0, arg1) {
        this.arg0 = arg0;
        this.arg1 = arg1;
    }
    MyConstructor.prototype.toString = function() {
        return this.arg0 + " " + this.arg1;
    }

    var thunk = conthunktor(MyConstructor, "hello", "world");
    var my_object = thunk();
    deepEqual(my_object.toString(), "hello world");
});

Answer 1

Try this:

function conthunktor(Constructor) {
    var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 1);
    return function() {

         var Temp = function(){}, // temporary constructor
             inst, ret; // other vars

         // Give the Temp constructor the Constructor's prototype
         Temp.prototype = Constructor.prototype;

         // Create a new instance
         inst = new Temp;

         // Call the original Constructor with the temp
         // instance as its context (i.e. its 'this' value)
         ret = Constructor.apply(inst, args);

         // If an object has been returned then return it otherwise
         // return the original instance.
         // (consistent with behaviour of the new operator)
         return Object(ret) === ret ? ret : inst;

    }
}