(1995) OOP with Prototypes

Objectives

• Identify the downsides of object literal notation.

• Use constructor pattern to create multiple object instances.

• Discuss the basic premises behind object-oriented programming with prototypes in JavaScript.

• Define the difference between an instance and a class (or constructor function)

• Use constructors and prototypes to modularize code and keep code DRY.

Object Oriented Programming

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which are data structures that contain data, in the form of fields, often known as attributes; and code, in the form of procedures, often known as methods. A distinguishing feature of objects is that an object's procedures can access and often modify the data fields of the object with which they are associated (objects have a notion of "this"). In object-oriented programming, computer programs are designed by making them out of objects that interact with one another. - wiki

We've been encountering examples of object-oriented programming in JavaScript, but there's ways to make objects easier and more efficient to construct. Specifically, we'll be looking at constructors and prototypes in order to achieve these goals.