How do jQuery objects imitate arrays?

Question

jQuery objects act like arrays without polluting native prototypes. How is this achieved?

I know it\'s not just objects with numeric keys - so perhaps it\'s just a m

Answer 1

Look in jquery code (development), line 139:

// Force the current matched set of elements to become
// the specified array of elements (destroying the stack in the process)
// You should use pushStack() in order to do this, but maintain the stack
setArray: function( elems ) {
    // Resetting the length to 0, then using the native Array push
    // is a super-fast way to populate an object with array-like properties
    this.length = 0;
    Array.prototype.push.apply( this, elems );
        return this;
},

This is because any result of jquery queries is array.