JavaScript Classes

Question

I understand basic JavaScript pseudo-classes:

function Foo(bar) {
    this._bar = bar;
}

Foo.prototype.getBar = function() {
    return this._bar;
};

var f         


        

Answer 1

what about this :

var Foo = (function() {
    // "private" variables 
    var _bar;

    // constructor
    function Foo() {};

    // add the methods to the prototype so that all of the 
    // Foo instances can access the private static
    Foo.prototype.getBar = function() {
        return _bar;
    };
    Foo.prototype.setBar = function(bar) {
        _bar = bar;
    };

    return Foo;
})();

And now we have instantiation, encapsulation and inheritance.
But, there still is a problem. The private variable is static because it's shared across all instances of Foo. Quick demo :

var a = new Foo();
var b = new Foo();
a.setBar('a');
b.setBar('b');
alert(a.getBar()); // alerts 'b' :(    

A better approach might be using conventions for the private variables : any private variable should start with an underscore. This convention is well known and widely used, so when another programmer uses or alters your code and sees a variable starting with underscore, he'll know that it's private, for internal use only and he won't modify it.
Here's the rewrite using this convention :

var Foo = (function() {
    // constructor
    function Foo() {
        this._bar = "some value";
    };

    // add the methods to the prototype so that all of the 
    // Foo instances can access the private static
    Foo.prototype.getBar = function() {
        return this._bar;
    };
    Foo.prototype.setBar = function(bar) {
        this._bar = bar;
    };

    return Foo;
})();

Now we have instantiation, inheritance, but we've lost our encapsulation in favor of conventions :

var a = new Foo();
var b = new Foo();
a.setBar('a');
b.setBar('b');
alert(a.getBar()); // alerts 'a' :) 
alert(b.getBar()); // alerts 'b' :) 

but the private vars are accessible :

delete a._bar;
b._bar = null;
alert(a.getBar()); // alerts undefined :(
alert(b.getBar()); // alerts null :(