Heads up! To view this whole video, sign in with your Courses account or enroll in your free 7-day trial. Sign In Enroll
Preview
Start a free Courses trial
to watch this video
Everything in JavaScript is an object or can be treated like one. Learn about familiar JavaScript objects to get a deeper understanding of why objects are useful.
JavaScript Data Structures
Interested in learning more about objects and other data structures in JavaScript? Check out the following documentation:
Hey, welcome back.
0:00
In the last video, we started
conceptualizing what an object is and
0:01
how objects can be used in our code.
0:05
In this video, we're going to build
on that by talking about objects
0:08
in JavaScript that you're
already familiar with.
0:11
Most everything you encounter when
programming in JavaScript is an object or
0:14
can be treated like an object.
0:18
For example, in your course progression,
you have probably heard of or
0:20
encountered the DOM, or
the Document Object Model.
0:24
That's just the object that
represents the HTML document
0:27
your JavaScript interacts with.
0:30
DOM elements are objects and
have properties and methods.
0:32
For example, I can get an element
styles with the style property.
0:35
I can get the HTML that an element is
made of with the innerHTML property.
0:39
I can even get an element's parent
with the parentNode property, or
0:44
its children with the childNodes property.
0:47
DOM objects have methods as well,
like getElementById or appendChild.
0:49
Did you know that arrays are another
example of a JavaScript object?
0:55
Arrays have properties like length and
methods like push, pop, and concat.
0:59
What's great about these objects is
that they've abstracted away a lot of
1:05
the details for you.
1:08
In other words, they created an interface
that lets you use the object without
1:09
having to know what's
going on under the hood.
1:13
You can use the method, getElementById,
over and over without having to know
1:16
how that works or
rewrite all the code that's underneath it.
1:21
As you can see, objects can make it really
easy to get up to speed with code basis
1:25
you aren't familiar with.
1:30
If you design and
document your own objects well,
1:31
another developer can start
working with your code right away.
1:34
Objects are everywhere in JavaScript.
1:38
You can design your own to model real life
objects that you want to use in your code,
1:40
or use them as a container to store and
access data.
1:44
Hopefully you're starting to have a clear
understanding of what objects are and
1:47
why and how we use them.
1:51
If you have any questions about OOJS so
far or
1:53
you just want to discuss
what you've learned.
1:56
The Treehouse Community is a really great
place to connect with other students and
1:58
get or give extra help.
2:02
Join me in the next stage to get familiar
with some really important terms, and
2:04
get your hands dirty as you start
learning about the practical application
2:08
of objects in your code.
2:11
You need to sign up for Treehouse in order to download course files.
Sign up