object literals vs properties

An object literal and a property are two completely different things. An object literal is one way of creating an object, and an object has methods and properties. A property is a part of what makes up an object. For example:

//This is creating an object using object literal technique:
var myObject = {
  name: "Alice",
  age: 18,
  getName: function() {
       console.log(this.name);
   }
}

/*
name and age are both properties of the object myObject.
getName is a method of the object myObject.
*/

There are other ways of creating an object such as using the constructor function with the new keyword.

Thanks :)

Sam, I think that your question was just missing some of the correct terminology. However, Julie provided a good explanation for the way that the question was worded.

I think you might have been getting at the difference between dot notation versus square bracket syntax - when it comes to calling a key value pair for a property or calling a method.

Ultimately, dot notation is probably more widely used and preferred

myObject.name

Rather than square bracket syntax...

myObject["name"]

I think what Andrew was getting at is that there's more than one way to get your property information. This could be useful if let's say that I built an object like this and you're trying to access my object for your own program. For example:

var myObject = {
  "Aren't I cool?": "Alice"
}

If I built my object this way, you would be forced to change the key for my object. Changing other people's code is always a dicey proposition since you'll have to keep doing it upon updates. Otherwise, you could access the property by using square bracket notation like this:

myObject["Aren't I cool?"]

Hope this helps!