A piece of code that provides functionality that is not natively supported by certain browsers or environments. In simple terms, a browser falback.

Before writing polyfills for the call(), apply() and bind() methods, please check the functionality of call, apply and bind.

let details = {
  name: 'Manoj',
  location: 'Chennai'
}

let getDetails = function (...args) {
  return `${this.name} from ${this.location}${args.join(', ') ? `, ${args.join(', ')}` : ''}`;
}

1. Call Method:

Let’s create a polyfill for call(). We'll add a custom call method to the Function.prototype to make it accessible to all functions.

getDetails.call(details, 'Tamil Nadu', 'India');  // Manoj from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

// Polyfill
Function.prototype.myCall = function (ref, ...args) {
  if (typeof Function.prototype.call === 'function') {  // Checks whether the browser supports call method
    return this.call(ref, ...args);
  } else {
    ref = ref || globalThis;
    let funcName = Math.random();  // Random is used to overwriting a function name
    while (ref.funcName) {
      funcName = Math.random();
    }
    ref[funcName] = this;
    let result = ref[funcName](...args);
    delete ref[funcName];
    return result;
  }
}

getDetails.myCall(details, 'Tamil Nadu', 'India');  // Manoj from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

2. Apply Method:

Let’s create a polyfill for apply(). We’ll add a custom apply method to the Function.prototype to make it accessible to all functions.

getDetails.apply(details, ['Tamil Nadu', 'India']);  // Manoj from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

// Polyfill
Function.prototype.myApply = function (ref, args) {
  if (typeof Function.prototype.apply === 'function') {  // Checks whether the browser supports call method
    this.apply(ref, args);
  } else {
    ref = ref || globalThis;
    let funcName = Math.random();  // Random is to avoid duplication
    while (ref.funcName) {
      funcName = Math.random();
    }
    ref[funcName] = this;
    let result = ref[funcName](args);
    delete ref[funcName];
    return result;
  }
}

getDetails.myApply(details, 'Tamil Nadu', 'India');  // Manoj from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

3. Bind method

Let’s create a polyfill for bind(). We’ll add a custom bind method to the Function.prototype to make it accessible to all functions.

let getFullDetails = getDetails.bind(details, 'Tamil Nadu');
getFullDetails();  // Manoj from Chennai, Tamil Nadu
getFullDetails('India');  // Manoj from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

// Polyfill
Function.prototype.myBind = function (ref, ...args) {
  if (typeof Function.prototype.bind === 'function') {
    return this.bind(ref, ...args);
  } else {
    let fn = this;
    return function (...args2) {
        return fn.apply(ref, [...args, ...args2]);  // Merge and apply arguments
    }
  }
}

let getFullDetails = getDetails.myBind(details, 'Tamil Nadu');  // Manoj from Chennai, Tamil Nadu
getFullDetails('India');  // Manoj from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Thank you for reading! I hope you found this blog informative and engaging. If you notice any inaccuracies or have any feedback, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Writing polyfills — Javascript