Using Object create instead of new

Question

Javascript 1 9 3   ECMAScript 5 introduces Object create  which Douglas Crockford amongst others has been advocating for a long time  How do I replace new in the code below with Object create   var UserA   function nameParam        this id   MY GLOBAL nextId        this name   nameParam    UserA prototype sayHello   function         console log  Hello    this name     var bob   new UserA  bob    bob sayHello       Assume MY GLOBAL nextId exists    The best I can come up with is   var userB         init  function nameParam            this id   MY GLOBAL nextId            this name   nameParam             sayHello  function             console log  Hello    this name            var bob   Object create userB   bob init  Bob    bob sayHello      There doesn t seem to be any advantage  so I think I m not getting it  I m probably being too neo-classical  How should I use Object create to create user  bob

User · Answer

Summary    Object create   is a Javascript function which takes 2 arguments and returns a new object   The first argument is an object which will be the prototype of the newly created object The second argument is an object which will be the properties of the newly created object   Example    x000D   x000D  const proto     x000D    talk        gt  console log  hi   x000D    x000D   x000D  const props     x000D    age    x000D      writable  true  x000D      configurable  true  x000D      value  26 x000D      x000D    x000D   x000D   x000D  let Person   Object create proto  props  x000D   x000D  console log Person age   x000D  Person talk    x000D   x000D   x000D    Practical applications    The main advantage of creating an object in this manner is that the prototype can be explicitly defined  When using an object literal  or the new keyword you have no control over this  however  you can overwrite them of course   If we want to have a prototype The new keyword invokes a constructor function  With Object create   there is no need for invoking or even declaring a constructor function  It can Basically be a helpful tool when you want create objects in a very dynamic manner  We can make an object factory function which creates objects with different prototypes depending on the arguments received

User · Answer

Sometimes you cannot create an object with NEW but are still able to invoke the CREATE method   For example  if you want to define a Custom Element it must derive from HTMLElement   proto   new HTMLElement    fail    proto   Object create  HTMLElement prototype      OK    document registerElement   custom-element     prototype  proto

User · Answer

There is really no advantage in using Object create      over new object   Those advocating this method generally state rather ambiguous advantages   scalability   or  more natural to JavaScript  etc    However  I have yet to see a concrete example that shows that Object create has any advantages over using new  On the contrary there are known problems with it  Sam Elsamman describes what happens when there are nested objects and Object create      is used   var Animal         traits        var lion   Object create Animal   lion traits legs   4  var bird   Object create Animal   bird traits legs   2  alert lion traits legs     shows 2      This occurs because Object create      advocates a practice where data is used to create new objects  here the Animal datum becomes part of the prototype of lion and bird  and causes problems as it is shared  When using new the prototypal inheritance is explicit   function Animal         this traits          function Lion       Lion prototype   new Animal    function Bird       Bird prototype   new Animal     var lion   new Lion    lion traits legs   4  var bird   new Bird    bird traits legs   2  alert lion traits legs     now shows 4   Regarding  the optional property attributes that are passed into Object create       these can be added using Object defineProperties

User · Answer

Object create is not yet standard on several browsers  for example IE8  Opera v11 5  Konq 4 3 do not have it  You can use Douglas Crockford s version of Object create for those browsers but this doesn t include the second  initialisation object  parameter used in CMS s answer   For cross browser code one way to get object initialisation in the meantime is to customise Crockford s Object create  Here is one method -  Object build   function o       var initArgs   Array prototype slice call arguments 1     function F           if  typeof o init      function    amp  amp  initArgs length             o init apply this initArgs                  F prototype   o    return new F       This maintains Crockford prototypal inheritance  and also checks for any init method in the object  then runs it with your parameter s   like say new man  John   Smith    Your code then becomes -  MY GLOBAL    i  1  nextId  function   return this i         For example  var userB         init  function nameParam            this id   MY GLOBAL nextId            this name   nameParam             sayHello  function             console log  Hello    this name            var bob   Object build userB   Bob        Different from your code bob sayHello      So bob inherits the sayHello method and now has own properties id 1 and name  Bob   These properties are both writable and enumerable of course  This is also a much simpler way to initialise than for ECMA Object create especially if you aren t concerned about the writable  enumerable and configurable attributes   For initialisation without an init method the following Crockford mod could be used -  Object gen   function o       var makeArgs   arguments     function F           var prop  i 1  arg  val       for prop in o             if  o hasOwnProperty prop   continue          val   o prop           arg   makeArgs i             if typeof arg      undefined   break          this prop    arg                 F prototype   o    return new F       This fills the userB own properties  in the order they are defined  using the Object gen parameters from left to right after the userB parameter  It uses the for prop in o  loop so  by ECMA standards  the order of property enumeration cannot be guaranteed the same as the order of property definition  However  several code examples tested on  4  major browsers show they are the same  provided the hasOwnProperty filter is used  and sometimes even if not   MY GLOBAL    i  1  nextId  function   return this i          For example  var userB        name  null     id  null     sayHello  function           console log  Hello    this name           var bob   Object gen userB   Bob   MY GLOBAL nextId       Somewhat simpler I would say than Object build since userB does not need an init method  Also userB is not specifically a constructor but looks like a normal singleton object  So with this method you can construct and initialise from normal plain objects

User · Answer

Another possible usage of Object create is to clone immutable objects in a cheap and effective way   var anObj         a   test       b   jest      var bObj   Object create anObj    bObj b    gone      replace an existing  by masking prototype  bObj c    brand      add a new to demonstrate it is actually a new obj     now bObj is  a  test  b  gone  c  brand    Notes  The above snippet creates a clone of an source object  aka not a reference  as in cObj   aObj   It benefits over the copy-properties method  see 1   in that it does not copy object member properties  Rather it creates another -destination- object with it s prototype set on the source object  Moreover when properties are modified on the dest object  they are created  on the fly   masking the prototype s  src s  properties This constitutes a fast an effective way of cloning immutable objects   The caveat here is that this applies to source objects that should not be modified after creation  immutable   If the source object is modified after creation  all the clone s unmasked properties will be modified  too   Fiddle here http   jsfiddle net y5b5q 1    needs Object create capable browser

User · Answer

new Operator   This is used to create object from a constructor function  The new keywords also executes the constructor function   function Car       console log this     this points to myCar   this name    Honda      var myCar   new Car   console log myCar     Car  name   Honda   constructor  Object  console log myCar name     Honda console log myCar instanceof Car     true console log myCar constructor     function Car      console log myCar constructor     Car     true console log typeof myCar     object    Object create   You can also use Object create to create a new object But  it does not execute the constructor function Object create is used to create an object from another object   const Car       name   Honda     var myCar   Object create Car  console log myCar     Object    console log myCar name     Honda console log myCar instanceof Car     ERROR console log myCar constructor     Anonymous function object console log myCar constructor     Car     false console log typeof myCar     object

User · Answer

I think the main point in question - is to understand difference between new and Object create approaches  Accordingly to this answer and to this video new keyword does next things    Creates new object  Links new object to constructor function  prototype   Makes this variable point to the new object  Executes constructor function using the new object and implicit perform return this  Assigns constructor function name to new object s property constructor    Object create performs only 1st and 2nd steps     In code example provided in question it isn t big deal  but in next example it is   var onlineUsers       function SiteMember name        this name   name      onlineUsers push name     SiteMember prototype getName   function         return this name    function Guest name        SiteMember call this  name     Guest prototype   new SiteMember     var g   new Guest  James    console log onlineUsers     As side effect result will be     undefined   James      because of Guest prototype   new SiteMember    But we don t need to execute parent constructor method  we need only make method getName to be available in Guest  Hence we have to use Object create  If replace Guest prototype   new SiteMember    to Guest prototype   Object create SiteMember prototype   result be      James

User · Answer

You have to make a custom Object create   function  One that addresses Crockfords concerns and also calls your init function   This will work   var userBPrototype         init  function nameParam            this name   nameParam             sayHello  function             console log  Hello    this name              function UserB name        function F           F prototype   userBPrototype      var f   new F      f init name       return f     var bob   UserB  bob    bob sayHello      Here UserB is like Object create  but adjusted for our needs   If you want  you can also call   var bob   new UserB  bob

User · Answer

The advantage is that Object create is typically slower than new on most browsers  In this jsperf example  in a Chromium  browser new is 30 times as fast as Object create obj  although both are pretty fast  This is all pretty strange because new does more things  like invoking a constructor  where Object create should be just creating a new Object with the passed in object as a prototype  secret link in Crockford-speak   Perhaps the browsers have not caught up in making Object create more efficient  perhaps they are basing it on new under the covers     even in native code

User · Answer

I prefer a closure approach   I still use new  I don t use Object create  I don t use this   I still use new as I like the declarative nature of it   Consider this for simple inheritance   window Quad    function          function Quad              const wheels   4          const drivingWheels   2           let motorSize   0           function setMotorSize                  motorSize                         function getMotorSize                 return motorSize                     function getWheelCount                 return wheels                     function getDrivingWheelCount                 return drivingWheels                    return Object freeze               getWheelCount              getDrivingWheelCount              getMotorSize              setMotorSize                        return Object freeze Quad          window Car4wd    function          function Car4wd             const quad   new Quad             const spareWheels   1          const extraDrivingWheels   2           function getSpareWheelCount                 return spareWheels                     function getDrivingWheelCount                 return quad getDrivingWheelCount     extraDrivingWheels                     return Object freeze Object assign     quad                getSpareWheelCount              getDrivingWheelCount                         return Object freeze Car4wd          let myQuad   new Quad    let myCar   new Car4wd    console log myQuad getWheelCount        4 console log myQuad getDrivingWheelCount        2 console log myCar getWheelCount        4 console log myCar getDrivingWheelCount        4 - The overridden method is called console log myCar getSpareWheelCount        1   Feedback encouraged

User · Answer

While Douglas Crockford used to be a zealous advocate of Object create   and he is basically the reason why this construct actually is in javascript  he no longer has this opinion   He stopped using Object create  because he stopped using this keyword altogether as it causes too much trouble  For example  if you are not careful it can easily point to the global object  which can have really bad consequences  And he claims that without using this Object create does not make sense anymore   You can check this video from 2014 where he talks at Nordic js   https   www youtube com watch v PSGEjv3Tqo0

User · Answer

With only one level of inheritance  your example may not let you see the real benefits of Object create   This methods allows you to easily implement differential inheritance  where objects can directly inherit from other objects   On your userB example  I don t think that your init method should be public or even exist  if you call again this method on an existing object instance  the id and name properties will change   Object create lets you initialize object properties using its second argument  e g    var userB       sayHello  function         console log  Hello    this name           var bob   Object create userB       id          value  MY GLOBAL nextId        enumerable true    writable false  configurable deletable  false by default         name         value   Bob       enumerable  true           As you can see  the properties can be initialized on the second argument of Object create  with an object literal using a syntax similar to the used by the Object defineProperties and Object defineProperty methods   It lets you set the property attributes  enumerable  writable  or configurable   which can be really useful

User · Answer

You could make the init method return this  and then chain the calls together  like this   var userB         init  function nameParam            this id   MY GLOBAL nextId            this name   nameParam          return this             sayHello  function             console log  Hello    this name             var bob   Object create userB  init  Bob

User · Answer

new and Object create serve different purposes  new is intended to create a new instance of an object type  Object create is intended to simply create a new object and set its prototype  Why is this useful  To implement inheritance without accessing the   proto   property   An object instance s prototype referred to as   Prototype   is an internal property of the virtual machine and is not intended to be directly accessed  The only reason it is actually possible to directly access   Prototype   as the   proto   property is because it has always been a de-facto standard of every major virtual machine s implementation of ECMAScript  and at this point removing it would break a lot of existing code   In response to the answer above by 7ochem  objects should absolutely never have their prototype set to the result of a new statement  not only because there s no point calling the same prototype constructor multiple times but also because two instances of the same class can end up with different behavior if one s prototype is modified after being created  Both examples are simply bad code as a result of misunderstanding and breaking the intended behavior of the prototype inheritance chain   Instead of accessing   proto    an instance s prototype should be written to when an it is created with Object create or afterward with Object setPrototypeOf  and read with Object getPrototypeOf or Object isPrototypeOf   Also  as the Mozilla documentation of Object setPrototypeOf points out  it is a bad idea to modify the prototype of an object after it is created for performance reasons  in addition to the fact that modifying an object s prototype after it is created can cause undefined behavior if a given piece of code that accesses it can be executed before OR after the prototype is modified  unless that code is very careful to check the current prototype or not access any property that differs between the two   Given  const X   function  v    this v   v    X prototype whatAmI    X   X prototype getWhatIAm        gt  this whatAmI  X prototype getV        gt  this v   the following VM pseudo-code is equivalent to the statement const x0   new X 1     const x0       x0   Prototype     X prototype  X prototype constructor call x0  1    Note although the constructor can return any value  the new statement always ignores its return value and returns a reference to the newly created object   And the following pseudo-code is equivalent to the statement const x1   Object create X prototype     const x0       x0   Prototype     X prototype   As you can see  the only difference between the two is that Object create does not execute the constructor  which can actually return any value but simply returns the new object reference this if not otherwise specified   Now  if we wanted to create a subclass Y with the following definition   const Y   function u    this u   u    Y prototype whatAmI    Y   Y prototype getU        gt  this u   Then we can make it inherit from X like this by writing to   proto     Y prototype   proto     X prototype   While the same thing could be accomplished without ever writing to   proto   with   Y prototype   Object create X prototype   Y prototype constructor   Y   In the latter case  it is necessary to set the constructor property of the prototype so that the correct constructor is called by the new Y statement  otherwise new Y will call the function X  If the programmer does want new Y to call X  it would be more properly done in Y s constructor with X call this  u

User · Answer

TL DR   new Computer   will invoke the constructor function Computer     for one time  while Object create Computer prototype  won t   All the advantages are based on this point    Sidenote about performance  Constructor invoking like new Computer   is heavily optimized by the engine  so it may be even faster than Object create

[javascript] Using "Object.create" instead of "new"

Summary:

Example:

Practical applications:

Examples related to javascript

Examples related to constructor

Examples related to new-operator

Examples related to object-create