JavaScript hashmap equivalent

Question

As made clear in update 3 on this answer, this notation:

var hash = {};
hash[X]

does not actually hash the object X; it actually

Answer 1

I've implemented a JavaScript HashMap which code can be obtained from http://github.com/lambder/HashMapJS/tree/master

Here is the code:

/*
 =====================================================================
 @license MIT
 @author Lambder
 @copyright 2009 Lambder.
 @end
 =====================================================================
 */
var HashMap = function() {
  this.initialize();
}

HashMap.prototype = {
  hashkey_prefix: "<#HashMapHashkeyPerfix>",
  hashcode_field: "<#HashMapHashkeyPerfix>",

  initialize: function() {
    this.backing_hash = {};
    this.code = 0;
  },
  /*
   Maps value to key returning previous association
   */
  put: function(key, value) {
    var prev;
    if (key && value) {
      var hashCode = key[this.hashcode_field];
      if (hashCode) {
        prev = this.backing_hash[hashCode];
      } else {
        this.code += 1;
        hashCode = this.hashkey_prefix + this.code;
        key[this.hashcode_field] = hashCode;
      }
      this.backing_hash[hashCode] = value;
    }
    return prev;
  },
  /*
   Returns value associated with given key
   */
  get: function(key) {
    var value;
    if (key) {
      var hashCode = key[this.hashcode_field];
      if (hashCode) {
        value = this.backing_hash[hashCode];
      }
    }
    return value;
  },
  /*
   Deletes association by given key.
   Returns true if the association existed, false otherwise
   */
  del: function(key) {
    var success = false;
    if (key) {
      var hashCode = key[this.hashcode_field];
      if (hashCode) {
        var prev = this.backing_hash[hashCode];
        this.backing_hash[hashCode] = undefined;
        if(prev !== undefined)
          success = true;
      }
    }
    return success;
  }
}

//// Usage

// Creation

var my_map = new HashMap();

// Insertion

var a_key = {};
var a_value = {struct: "structA"};
var b_key = {};
var b_value = {struct: "structB"};
var c_key = {};
var c_value = {struct: "structC"};

my_map.put(a_key, a_value);
my_map.put(b_key, b_value);
var prev_b = my_map.put(b_key, c_value);

// Retrieval

if(my_map.get(a_key) !== a_value){
  throw("fail1")
}
if(my_map.get(b_key) !== c_value){
  throw("fail2")
}
if(prev_b !== b_value){
  throw("fail3")
}

// Deletion

var a_existed = my_map.del(a_key);
var c_existed = my_map.del(c_key);
var a2_existed = my_map.del(a_key);

if(a_existed !== true){
  throw("fail4")
}
if(c_existed !== false){
  throw("fail5")
}
if(a2_existed !== false){
  throw("fail6")
}