Is it possible to call function.apply without changing the context?

One way that you can work around the change of context that can happen in JavaScript when functions are called, is to use methods that are part of the object's constructor if you need them to be able to operate in a context where this is not going to mean the parent object, by effectively creating a local private variable to store the original this identifier.

I concede that - like most discussions of scope in JavaScript - this is not entirely clear, so here is an example of how I have done this:

function CounterType()
{
    var counter=1;
    var self=this; // 'self' will now be visible to all

    var incrementCount = function()
    {
        // it doesn't matter that 'this' has changed because 'self' now points to CounterType()
        self.counter++;
    };

}

function SecondaryType()
{
    var myCounter = new CounterType();
    console.log("First Counter : "+myCounter.counter); // 0
    myCounter.incrementCount.apply(this); 
    console.log("Second Counter: "+myCounter.counter); // 1
}

'this' is a reference to your function's context. That's really the point.

If you mean to call it in the context of a different object like this:

otherObj.otherFn(args)

then simply substitute that object in for the context:

otherObj.otherFn.apply(otherObj, args);

That should be it.

I'm not going to accept this as an answer, as I'm still hoping for something more suitable. But here's the approach I'm using right now based upon the feedback on this question so far.

For any class that will be calling Client.prototype.addListener or Client.prototype.removeListener, I did added the following code to their constructor:

class ExampleClass
  constructor: ->
    # ...
    for name, fn of this
      this[name] = fn.bind(this) if typeof(fn) == 'function'

   message: (recipient, body) ->
     # ...

   broadcast: (body) ->
     # ...

In the above example, message and broadcast will always be bound to the new ExampleClass prototype object when it's instantiated, allowing the addListener code in my original question to work.

I'm sure some of you are wondering why I didn't just do something like the following:

example = new ExampleClass
client.addListener('message', example.bind(example))
# ...
client.removeListener('message', example.bind(example))

The problem is that every time .bind( ) is called, it's a new object. So that means that the following is true:

example.bind(example) != example.bind(example)

As such, the removeListener would never work successfully, thus my binding the method once when the object is instantiated.

Since you seem to want to be using the bind function as it is defined in Javascript 1.8.5, and be able to retrieve the original this object you pass the bind function, I recommend redefining the Function.prototype.bind function:

Function.prototype.bind = function (oThis) {
    if (typeof this !== "function") {
        throw new TypeError("Function.prototype.bind - what is trying to be bound is not callable");
    }

    var aArgs = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 1),
        fToBind = this,
        fNOP = function () {},
        fBound = function () {
            return fToBind.apply(this instanceof fNOP && oThis
            ? this
            : oThis,
            aArgs.concat(Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments)));
        };

    fNOP.prototype = this.prototype;
    fBound.prototype = new fNOP();

    /** here's the additional code **/
    fBound.getContext = function() {
        return oThis;
    };
    /**/

    return fBound;
};

Now you can retrieve the original context that you called the bind function with:

function A() {
    return this.foo+' '+this.bar;
}

var HelloWorld = A.bind({
    foo: 'hello',
    bar: 'world',
});

HelloWorld(); // returns "hello world";
HelloWorld.getContext(); // returns {foo:"hello", bar:"world"};

If I understand you correctly:

                          changes context
                   |    n     |      y       |
accepts array    n |  func()  | func.call()  |
of arguments     y | ???????? | func.apply() |

PHP has a function for this, call_user_func_array. Unfortunately, JavaScript is lacking in this regard. It looks like you simulate this behavior using eval().

Function.prototype.invoke = function(args) {
    var i, code = 'this(';
    for (i=0; i<args.length; i++) {
        if (i) { code += ',' }
        code += 'args[' + i + ']';
    }
    eval(code + ');');
}

Yes, I know. Nobody likes eval(). It's slow and dangerous. However, in this situation you probably don't have to worry about cross-site scripting, at least, as all variables are contained within the function. Really, it's too bad that JavaScript doesn't have a native function for this, but I suppose that it's for situations like this that we have eval.

Proof that it works:

function showArgs() {
    for (x in arguments) {console.log(arguments[x]);}
}

showArgs.invoke(['foo',/bar/g]);
showArgs.invoke([window,[1,2,3]]);

Firefox console output:

--
[12:31:05.778] "foo"
[12:31:05.778] [object RegExp]
[12:31:05.778] [object Window]
[12:31:05.778] [object Array]

Just push properties directly to the function's object and call it with it's own "context".

function otherFn() {
    console.log(this.foo+' '+this.bar); // prints: "hello world" when called from rootFn()
}

otherFn.foo = 'hello';
otherFn.bar = 'world';

function rootFn() {
    // by the way, unless you are removing or adding elements to 'arguments',
    // just pass the arguments object directly instead of casting it to Array
    otherFn.apply(otherFn, arguments);
}