Difference between reference and instance in javascript

Question

Sometimes I hear people say \"a reference to a object\" and some say \"a instance of a object\" What is the difference?

Answer 1

We always use a reference to an object and cannot use the object directly, we can only use the reference. Object instance itself is in memory.

When we create an object, we get a reference. We can create more references:

var obj = {}; // a reference to a new object
var a = obj; // another reference to the object

Answer 2

A variable will hold a reference to an instance of an object.

The actual object is an instance.

The variable/variables used to access the object hold the references to it.