var functionName=function(){...}
) and may only be called by privileged methods (including the object's constructor).this.methodName=function(){...}
and may invoked by code external to the object.this.variableName
and may be read/written from outside the object.Classname.prototype.methodName = function(){...}
and may be called from outside the object.Classname.prototype.propertyName = someValue
Classname.propertyName = someValue
(different between static and prototype properties)javascript
In this example, a person's name and race are set at birth and may never be changed. When created, a person starts out at year 1 and a hidden maximum age is determined for that person. The person has a weight which is modified by eating (tripling their weight) or exercising (halfing it). Every time the person eats or exercises, they grow a year older. The person object has a publicly accessible 'clothing' property which anyone can modify, as well as a dirtFactor which can be modified manually (throwing dirt on or scrubbing it off), but which increases every time the person eats or exercises, and is reduced by the use of the shower() method.html
1 function Person(n,race){ 2 this.constructor.population++; // this.constructor equal Person 3 4 // ************************************************************************ 5 // PRIVATE VARIABLES AND FUNCTIONS 6 // ONLY PRIVELEGED METHODS MAY VIEW/EDIT/INVOKE 7 // *********************************************************************** 8 var alive=true, age=1; 9 var maxAge=70+Math.round(Math.random()*15)+Math.round(Math.random()*15); // Math.random() return an random 0-1 10 function makeOlder(){ return alive = (++age <= maxAge) } // makeOlder cann't direct access outside Person 11 12 var myName=n?n:"John Doe"; 13 var weight=1; 14 15 16 // ************************************************************************ 17 // PRIVILEGED METHODS 18 // MAY BE INVOKED PUBLICLY AND MAY ACCESS PRIVATE ITEMS 19 // MAY NOT BE CHANGED; MAY BE REPLACED WITH PUBLIC FLAVORS 20 // ************************************************************************ 21 this.toString=this.getName=function(){ return myName } 22 23 this.eat=function(){ 24 if (makeOlder()){ 25 this.dirtFactor++; 26 return weight*=3; 27 } else alert(myName+" can't eat, he's dead!"); 28 } 29 this.exercise=function(){ 30 if (makeOlder()){ 31 this.dirtFactor++; 32 return weight/=2; 33 } else alert(myName+" can't exercise, he's dead!"); 34 } 35 this.weigh=function(){ return weight } 36 this.getRace=function(){ return race } 37 this.getAge=function(){ return age } 38 this.muchTimePasses=function(){ age+=50; this.dirtFactor=10; } 39 40 41 // ************************************************************************ 42 // PUBLIC PROPERTIES -- ANYONE MAY READ/WRITE 43 // ************************************************************************ 44 this.clothing="nothing/naked"; 45 this.dirtFactor=0; 46 } 47 48 49 // ************************************************************************ 50 // PUBLIC METHODS -- ANYONE MAY READ/WRITE 51 // ************************************************************************ 52 Person.prototype.beCool = function(){ this.clothing="khakis and black shirt" } 53 Person.prototype.shower = function(){ this.dirtFactor=2 } 54 Person.prototype.showLegs = function(){ alert(this+" has "+this.legs+" legs") } 55 Person.prototype.amputate = function(){ this.legs-- } 56 57 58 // ************************************************************************ 59 // PROTOTYOPE PROERTIES -- ANYONE MAY READ/WRITE (but may be overridden) 60 // ************************************************************************ 61 Person.prototype.legs=2; 62 63 64 // ************************************************************************ 65 // STATIC PROPERTIES -- ANYONE MAY READ/WRITE 66 // ************************************************************************ 67 Person.population = 0;
1 // Here is the code that uses the Person class 2 function RunGavinsLife(){ 3 var gk=new Person("Gavin","caucasian"); //New instance of the Person object created. 4 var lk=new Person("Lisa","caucasian"); //New instance of the Person object created. 5 alert("There are now "+Person.population+" people"); 6 7 gk.showLegs(); lk.showLegs(); //Both share the common 'Person.prototype.legs' variable when looking at 'this.legs' 8 9 gk.race = "hispanic"; //Sets a public variable, but does not overwrite private 'race' variable. 10 alert(gk+"'s real race is "+gk.getRace()); //Returns 'caucasian' from private 'race' variable set at create time. 11 gk.eat(); gk.eat(); gk.eat(); //weight is 3...then 9...then 27 12 alert(gk+" weighs "+gk.weigh()+" pounds and has a dirt factor of "+gk.dirtFactor); 13 14 gk.exercise(); //weight is now 13.5 15 gk.beCool(); //clothing has been update to current fashionable levels 16 gk.clothing="Pimp Outfit"; //clothing is a public variable that can be updated to any funky value 17 gk.shower(); 18 alert("Existing shower technology has gotten "+gk+" to a dirt factor of "+gk.dirtFactor); 19 20 gk.muchTimePasses(); //50 Years Pass 21 Person.prototype.shower=function(){ //Shower technology improves for everyone 22 this.dirtFactor=0; 23 } 24 gk.beCool=function(){ //Gavin alone gets new fashion ideas 25 this.clothing="tinfoil"; 26 }; 27 28 gk.beCool(); gk.shower(); 29 alert("Fashionable "+gk+" at " 30 +gk.getAge()+" years old is now wearing " 31 +gk.clothing+" with dirt factor " 32 +gk.dirtFactor); 33 34 gk.amputate(); //Uses the prototype property and makes a public property 35 gk.showLegs(); lk.showLegs(); //Lisa still has the prototype property 36 37 gk.muchTimePasses(); //50 Years Pass...Gavin is now over 100 years old. 38 gk.eat(); //Complains about extreme age, death, and inability to eat. 39 }
maxAge
is a private variable with no privileged accessor method; as such, there is no way to publicly get or set it.race
is a private variable defined only as an argument to the contructor. Variables passed into the constructor are available to the object as private variables.beCool()
fashion method was applied only to the gk
object, not the entire Person
class. Other people created and set to beCool()
would still use the original 'khakis and black shirt' clothing that Gavin eschewed later in life.gk.toString()
method when using string concatenation. It is this which allows the code alert(gk+' is so cool.')
to put the word 'Gavin' in there, and is equivalent to alert(gk.toString()+' is so cool.')
. Every object of every type in JS has a.toString()
method, but you can override it with your own.prototype
property externally, as above with the beCool()
andshower()
methods.Person.prototype.legs
property and the amputate()
function, prototype properties are shared by all object instances. Asking for lk.legs
yields '2' by looking at the single prototype property. However, attempting to change this value using either gk.legs=1
or (in the Person object) this.legs=1
ends up making a new public property of the object specific to that instance. (This is why calling gk.amputate()
only removed a leg from Gavin, but not Lisa.) To modify a prototype property, you must use Person.prototype.legs=1
or something likethis.constructor.prototype.legs=1
. (I say 'something like' because I discovered thatthis.constructor
is not available inside private functions of the object, since this
refers to the window object in that scope.)foo = function(p1,p2){ some code }
new Function()
constructor is NOT equivalent, e.g.foo = new Function('p1','p2','code');
gk.race
to some value did NOT overwrite the private race
variable. Although it would be a dumb idea, you can have both private and public variables with the same name. For example, the yell()
method in the following class will yield different values for foo
and this.foo
: function StupidClass(){ var foo = "internal"; this.foo = "external"; this.yell=function(){ alert("Internal foo is "+foo+"\nExternal foo is "+this.foo) } }
new Person()
is called, new copies ofmakeOlder()
, toString()
, getName()
, eat()
, exercise()
, weigh()
, getRace()
, getAge()
, and muchTimePasses()
are created. For every Person, each time. Contrast this with public methods (only one copy of beCool()
and shower()
exist no matter how many Person objects are created) and you can see that for memory/performance reasons it can be preferable to give up some degree of object protection and instead use only public methods.Note that doing so requires making private variables public (since without privileged accessor methods there would be no way to use them) so the public methods can get at them...and which also allows external code to see/destroy these variables. The memory/performance optimization of using only public properties and methods has consequences which may make your code less robust.java
For example, in the above age
and maxAge
are private variables; age
can only be accessed externally through getAge()
(it cannot be set) and maxAge
cannot be read or set externally. Changing those to be public properties would allow any code to do something like gk.maxAge=1; gk.age=200;
which not only does it not make sense (you shouldn't be able to manipulate someone's age or lifespan directly), but by setting those values directly the alive
variable wouldn't properly be updated, leaving your Person object in a broken state.app
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