Node.js "Cannot read property 'prototype' of undefined" error - Node.js, MongoDB and Angularjs book

Question

I am working through Brad Dayley's Node.js, MongoDB and Angularjs book and I'm stuck on one of his exercises (Listing 4.4). I have a simple script emitterListener.js that is as follows the script is designed to makes checks on an account.

var events = require('events');
function Account() {
    this.balance = 0;
    events.EventEmitter.call(this);
    this.deposit = function(amount) {
        this.balance += amount;
        this.emit('balanceChanged');
    };
    this.withdraw = function(amount) {
        this.balance -= amount;
        this.emit('balanceChanged');
    };
}
Account.prototype._proto_ = events.EventEmitter.prototype;

function displayBalance() {
    console.log("Account balance: $%d", this.balance);
}

function checkOverdraw() {
    if (this.balance < 0) {
        console.log("Account Overdrawn!!!!!");
    }
}

function checkGoal(acc, goal) {
    if (acc.balance > goal) {
        console.log("Goal Achieved!!!!!");
    }
}
var account = new Account();

account.on("balanceChanged", displayBalance);
account.on("balanceChanged", checkOverdraw);
account.on("balanceChanged", function() {
    checkGoal(this, 1000);
});
account.deposit(220);
account.deposit(320);
account.deposit(600);
account.withdraw(1200);

When I run this I get the error.

TypeError: Object #<Account> has no method 'on'
at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/506132/web/emitterListener.js:35:9)
at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10)
at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:497:10)
at startup (node.js:119:16)
at node.js:906:3

From my limited understanding after researching I think this means that the "on" module is not being loaded. I found a solution that suggested something similar to adding this to line 1

var events = require('events').on;

which then results in the error.

TypeError: Cannot read property 'EventEmitter' of undefined
at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/506132/web/emitterListener.js:16:35)
at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10)
at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:497:10)
at startup (node.js:119:16)
at node.js:906:3

Following the logic from the first fix I tried implementing the same fix but with EventEmitter

var events = require('events').EventEmitter;

Hooray it looks like it worked.... or not......and now I get this error

TypeError: Cannot read property 'prototype' of undefined
at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/506132/web/emitterListener.js:17:48)
at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10)
at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:497:10)
at startup (node.js:119:16)
at node.js:906:3

I tried adding the below code thinking why not?

var events = require('events').prototype;

and it just brings me back to the same error from before

TypeError: Cannot read property 'EventEmitter' of undefined
at Object.<anonymous> (/Users/506132/web/emitterListener.js:16:35)
at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10)
at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:497:10)
at startup (node.js:119:16)
at node.js:906:3

What am I doing wrong here? How should I go about debugging this and where should I look? Thanks in advance for helping a newbie out.

Cheers.

Solution 1

I'll post it as an answer so this question won't get marked as unanswered.

You should change:

Account.prototype.__proto__ = events.EventEmitter.prototype;

to:

Account.prototype = Object.create(events.EventEmitter.prototype);

Solution 2

process.EventEmitter is deprecated, use require('events') instead.

Search through all your reference files (should be in multiple files) for:

var EventEmitter = process.EventEmitter

An where ever it exists, change that line to this:

var EventEmitter = require('events')

Solution 3

var EventEmitter = process.EventEmitter is deprecated in high version of node, use var EventEmitter = require('events') instead

Solution 4

This compilation error because of versions conflicts of npm and node. I had the same issue in my project. I resolved after install the same compatible versions of npm and node as on another machine.

Check:

nmp -v 

and

node -v.

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