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

If performance is not critical (e.g., the amount of keys is relatively small) and you don't want to pollute your (or maybe not your) objects with additional fields like _hash, _id, etc., then you can make use of the fact that Array.prototype.indexOf employs strict equality. Here is a simple implementation:

var Dict = (function(){
    // Internet Explorer 8 and earlier does not have any Array.prototype.indexOf
    function indexOfPolyfill(val) {
      for (var i = 0, l = this.length; i < l; ++i) {
        if (this[i] === val) {
          return i;
        }
      }
      return -1;
    }

    function Dict(){
      this.keys = [];
      this.values = [];
      if (!this.keys.indexOf) {
        this.keys.indexOf = indexOfPolyfill;
      }
    };

    Dict.prototype.has = function(key){
      return this.keys.indexOf(key) != -1;
    };

    Dict.prototype.get = function(key, defaultValue){
      var index = this.keys.indexOf(key);
      return index == -1 ? defaultValue : this.values[index];
    };

    Dict.prototype.set = function(key, value){
      var index = this.keys.indexOf(key);
      if (index == -1) {
        this.keys.push(key);
        this.values.push(value);
      } else {
        var prevValue = this.values[index];
        this.values[index] = value;
        return prevValue;
      }
    };

    Dict.prototype.delete = function(key){
      var index = this.keys.indexOf(key);
      if (index != -1) {
        this.keys.splice(index, 1);
        return this.values.splice(index, 1)[0];
      }
    };

    Dict.prototype.clear = function(){
      this.keys.splice(0, this.keys.length);
      this.values.splice(0, this.values.length);
    };

    return Dict;
})();

Example of usage:

var a = {}, b = {},
    c = { toString: function(){ return '1'; } },
    d = 1, s = '1', u = undefined, n = null,
    dict = new Dict();

// Keys and values can be anything
dict.set(a, 'a');
dict.set(b, 'b');
dict.set(c, 'c');
dict.set(d, 'd');
dict.set(s, 's');
dict.set(u, 'u');
dict.set(n, 'n');

dict.get(a); // 'a'
dict.get(b); // 'b'
dict.get(s); // 's'
dict.get(u); // 'u'
dict.get(n); // 'n'
// etc.

Comparing to ECMAScript 6 WeakMap, it has two issues: O(n) search time and non-weakness (i.e., it will cause memory leak if you don't use delete or clear to release keys).