Working with Objects

In JavaScript, objects are the primary configurable data structures from which all other complex data types extend, including Array and Date. Objects work like a hash map; they contain key/value properties that can contain any data type, including functions and other objects.

An object is defined using curly braces, much like a block:

var myObject = {};

The values that are added to an object are "members" of that object. Those members are accessible using dot notation:

var myObject = {foo: "bar"};
console.log(myObject.foo);
// =>  "bar"

The key of a property may be specified with or without quotes. However, the result is exactly the same:

var myObject = {param1: 1, "param2": 2};

JavaScript is known as a prototype language, which means its object-oriented capabilities are provided by prototyping values to objects prior to instantiation. As such, JavaScript objects support the prototype keyword...