Objects contain one or more key-value pairs. The key portion can be any string. The value portion can be any type of value: a number, a string, an array, a function, or even another object.
[Definition: When one of these values is a function, it’s called a method of the object.] Otherwise, they are called properties.
As it turns out, nearly everything in JavaScript is an object — arrays, functions, numbers, even strings — and they all have properties and methods.
Example 2.31. Creating an "object literal"
var myObject = {
sayHello : function() {
console.log('hello');
},
myName : 'Rebecca'
};
myObject.sayHello(); // logs 'hello'
console.log(myObject.myName); // logs 'Rebecca'
When creating object literals, you should note that the key portion of each key-value pair can be written as any valid JavaScript identifier, a string (wrapped in quotes) or a number:
var myObject = {
validIdentifier: 123,
'some string': 456,
99999: 789
};
Object literals can be extremely useful for code organization; for more information, read Using Objects to Organize Your Code by Rebecca Murphey.
Copyright Rebecca Murphey, released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States license.