In JavaScript, objects are fundamental building blocks that allow you to store collections of data and more complex entities. Objects consist of properties and methods, representing state and behavior, respectively.
Definition: An object in JavaScript is a collection of properties and methods. A property is a key-value pair, and a method is a function associated with the object.
Example Entities: Car, pen, bike, chair, glass, keyboard, and monitor can all be represented as objects with various properties (e.g., color, size) and methods (e.g., start, stop).
JavaScript is an object-based language, meaning that most of the programming constructs are objects. Unlike class-based languages, JavaScript uses a prototype-based approach, where objects inherit properties and methods directly from other objects.
1. By Object Literal
An object literal is a comma-separated list of key-value pairs enclosed in curly braces {}. This is a straightforward way to create an object.
var car = {
brand: "Toyota",
model: "Camry",
year: 2021,
start: function() {
document.write("Car started");
}
};
document.write(car.brand);
car.start();
Toyota
Car started
You can create an object instance using the Object constructor with the new keyword. This method creates a generic object.
var bike = new Object();
bike.brand = "Honda";
bike.model = "CBR600";
bike.year = 2020;
bike.start = function() {
document.write("Bike started");
};
document.write(bike.brand);
bike.start();
Honda
Bike started
You can define a constructor function and then create objects using the new keyword with this constructor. This is useful for creating multiple objects with similar structures.
function Chair(color, material) {
this.color = color;
this.material = material;
this.describe = function() {
document.write(`This is a ${this.color} chair made of ${this.material}.`);
};
}
var officeChair = new Chair("black", "leather");
var diningChair = new Chair("brown", "wood");
officeChair.describe();
diningChair.describe();
This is a black chair made of leather.
This is a brown chair made of wood.