JavaScript Array Deep Dive: Creating Arrays

Arrays in JavaScripts are a collection of values stored in what are called elements.  Each element is represented by a numeric index that is zero based, meaning the first element of an array starts at index zero.  JavaScript arrays are dynamic and can contain many types of objects including functions.  The useful thing about arrays is that they are a specialized object that contains a variety of built-in methods that are useful in the manipulation of the array.

First let's create an empty array, there are several ways to do this:

1. var empty = [ ];
2. var empty = new Array();
3. var empty = new Array(0);

JavaScript Object Deep Dive: toString() and toLocaleString() Methods

Every JavaScript object has a toString() and a toLocaleString() method defined with it.  It is a string representation of the object.

For example if we define a date object like the following:

 var date = new Date();

and we output the console.log(date.toString()) method without any extra code we would get the current date and time automatically

JavaScript Objects Deep Dive: Object Property Setters and Getters

Most people don't realize JavaScript has object property setters and getters or accessor methods.  When an object has a setter only it is a write only property, when it has a getter only method that it is a read only property.  If a property has both then it is a read/write property.  A perfect example is if you are working with a private property in JavaScript which has the $ prefix in front of it.

Let's say you have an object with a private property $n like the example below:

        var game = {

            $n: "Awesome Game!",

            get name() { return this.$n}
        };

The code above only has a getter name that exposes the private property $n when you console.log you should get value of the $n like the code snippet below

JavaScript Objects Deep Dive: Deleting Object Properties With The delete Operator

In JavaScript you can delete an object's property with the delete operator.  Let's use the product object again as an example.

Let say you have the following JavaScript code to create a product object.

        var product = new Object();

        product.name = "Chai";
        product.category = "Tea";
        product.country = "India";
        product.badProperty = "Bad Property";
        product.badProperty2 = "Bad Property 2";
        product.supplier = {
            name: "ACME Tea Of India",
            location: "New Delhi"
        };

console.log(product);

JavaScript Objects Deep Dive: Preventing Errors When Accessing Object Properties

There are times when you will get an error when you tried to access a property in an object, sometimes you think a property exists in the object but it does not.  Let's use the product object from the previous blog post as an example.

        var product = new Object();

        product.name = "Chai";
        product.category = "Tea";
        product.country = "India";
        product.supplier = {
            name: "ACME Tea Of India",
            location: "New Delhi"
        };

Let's say another developer works on the project and he assumes that since there's a "country" property that there should be a "city" property.  If he tries to access the access the "city" property in the product object he will get an undefined, because the property does not exist.   If he types the following he will get the undefined message.