Advantages of using prototype, vs defining methods straight in the constructor? [duplicate]

Answer 1

var YourClass = function(){
  var privateField = "somevalue";
  this.publicField = "somevalue";
  this.instanceMethod1 = function(){
     //you may access both private and public field from here:
     //in order to access public field, you must use "this":
     alert(privateField + "; " + this.publicField);
  };
}

YourClass.prototype.instanceMethod2 = function(){
  //you may access only public field 2 from this method, but not private fields:
  alert(this.publicField);
  //error: drawaback of prototype methods:
  alert(privateField);  
};

Advantages of prototype methods:

1. When you define methods via prototype, they are shared among all YourClass instances. As a result the total size of such instances is < than if you define methods in constructor; There are tests that show how method definition via prototype decrease the total size of html page and as a result a speed of its loading.

2. another advantage of methods, defined via prototype - is when you use inherited classes, you may override such methods and in the overriden method of the derived class you may invoke the method of base class with the same name, but with methods defined in constructor, you cannot do this.