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Object Oriented JavaScript: A Comprehensive Guide to a Powerful Approach to Web Development

George Hayes

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Published in Object Oriented JavaScript Second Edition Learn A More Powerful Approach To Web Development

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Object Oriented JavaScript (OOP) is a powerful approach to web development that can help you create more maintainable, scalable, and reusable code. OOP is based on the idea of organizing code into objects, which are collections of data and methods that operate on that data. This makes it easier to manage complex codebases and to create code that is easier to reuse in other projects.

Object-oriented JavaScript - Second Edition - Learn a More Powerful Approach to Web Development

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In this article, we will introduce the basics of OOP and show you how to apply them to your JavaScript code. We will cover topics such as:

Creating and using objects
Inheriting from other objects
Overriding methods
Using polymorphism

Creating and Using Objects

The first step to using OOP in JavaScript is to create objects. Objects are created using the new keyword. For example, the following code creates a new object called person:

javascript const person = new Object();

Once you have created an object, you can add data to it using the dot operator. For example, the following code adds a name property to the person object:

javascript person.name ="John Doe";

You can also add methods to objects using the dot operator. For example, the following code adds a greet method to the person object:

javascript person.greet = function(){console.log("Hello, my name is " + this.name); };

Now that you have created an object, you can use it to store data and perform operations. For example, the following code uses the greet method to greet the user:

javascript person.greet();

Inheriting from Other Objects

One of the most powerful features of OOP is the ability to inherit from other objects. This allows you to create new objects that share the properties and methods of existing objects. To inherit from another object, you use the extends keyword. For example, the following code creates a new object called student that inherits from the person object:

javascript class Student extends Person { constructor(name, major){super(name); this.major = major; }}

The Student object now has all of the properties and methods of the Person object, as well as its own major property.

Overriding Methods

In some cases, you may want to override a method from a parent object. This allows you to change the behavior of the method for a specific object. To override a method, you simply redefine the method in the child object. For example, the following code overrides the greet method in the Student object:

javascript class Student extends Person { constructor(name, major){super(name); this.major = major; }

greet(){super.greet(); console.log("I am a student majoring in " + this.major); }}

Now, when the greet method is called on a Student object, it will first call the greet method from the Person object, and then it will call the greet method from the Student object.

Using Polymorphism

Polymorphism is the ability for objects of different types to respond to the same message in different ways. This is a powerful feature that can be used to create more flexible and reusable code. For example, the following code uses polymorphism to create a function that can greet any object that has a greet method:

javascript function greet(object){object.greet(); }

This function can be used to greet any object, regardless of its type. For example, the following code uses the greet function to greet a Person object and a Student object:

javascript const person = new Person("John Doe"); const student = new Student("Jane Doe", "Computer Science");

greet(person); greet(student);

Both the Person object and the Student object will respond to the greet message, but they will do so in different ways. The Person object will simply say "Hello, my name is John Doe", while the Student object will say "Hello, my name is Jane Doe and I am a student majoring in Computer Science".

OOP is a powerful approach to web development that can help you create more maintainable, scalable, and reusable code. In this article, we have introduced the basics of OOP and shown you how to apply them to your JavaScript code. We encourage you to experiment with OOP and see how it can improve your code.