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does javascript have something equivalent to Python's `id` function? [duplicate]

I need to do some experiment and I need to know some kind of unique identifier for objects in javascript, so I can see if they are the same. I don't want to use equality operators, I need something like the id() function in python.
Does something like this exist ?

Update My original answer below was written 6 years ago in a style befitting the times and my understanding. In response to some conversation in the comments, a more modern approach to this is as follows:
(function() {
if ( typeof Object.id != "undefined" ) return;
var id = 0;
Object.id = function(o) {
if ( typeof o.__uniqueid != "undefined" ) {
return o.__uniqueid;
}
Object.defineProperty(o, "__uniqueid", {
value: ++id,
enumerable: false,
// This could go either way, depending on your
// interpretation of what an "id" is
writable: false
});
return o.__uniqueid;
};
})();
var obj = { a: 1, b: 1 };
console.log(Object.id(obj));
console.log(Object.id([]));
console.log(Object.id({}));
console.log(Object.id(/./));
console.log(Object.id(function() {}));
for (var k in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(k)) {
console.log(k);
}
}
// Logged keys are `a` and `b`
If you have archaic browser requirements, check here for browser compatibility for Object.defineProperty.
The original answer is kept below (instead of just in the change history) because I think the comparison is valuable.
You can give the following a spin. This also gives you the option to explicitly set an object's ID in its constructor or elsewhere.
(function() {
if ( typeof Object.prototype.uniqueId == "undefined" ) {
var id = 0;
Object.prototype.uniqueId = function() {
if ( typeof this.__uniqueid == "undefined" ) {
this.__uniqueid = ++id;
}
return this.__uniqueid;
};
}
})();
var obj1 = {};
var obj2 = new Object();
console.log(obj1.uniqueId());
console.log(obj2.uniqueId());
console.log([].uniqueId());
console.log({}.uniqueId());
console.log(/./.uniqueId());
console.log((function() {}).uniqueId());
Take care to make sure that whatever member you use to internally store the unique ID doesn't collide with another automatically created member name.

So far as my observation goes, any answer posted here can have unexpected side effects.
In ES2015-compatible enviroment, you can avoid any side effects by using WeakMap.
const id = (() => {
let currentId = 0;
const map = new WeakMap();
return (object) => {
if (!map.has(object)) {
map.set(object, ++currentId);
}
return map.get(object);
};
})();
id({}); //=> 1

Latest browsers provide a cleaner method for extending Object.prototype. This code will make the property hidden from property enumeration (for p in o)
For the browsers that implement defineProperty, you can implement uniqueId property like this:
(function() {
var id_counter = 1;
Object.defineProperty(Object.prototype, "__uniqueId", {
writable: true
});
Object.defineProperty(Object.prototype, "uniqueId", {
get: function() {
if (this.__uniqueId == undefined)
this.__uniqueId = id_counter++;
return this.__uniqueId;
}
});
}());
For details, see https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Object/defineProperty

Actually, you don't need to modify the object prototype and add a function there. The following should work well for your purpose.
var __next_objid=1;
function objectId(obj) {
if (obj==null) return null;
if (obj.__obj_id==null) obj.__obj_id=__next_objid++;
return obj.__obj_id;
}

For browsers implementing the Object.defineProperty() method, the code below generates and returns a function that you can bind to any object you own.
This approach has the advantage of not extending Object.prototype.
The code works by checking if the given object has a __objectID__ property, and by defining it as a hidden (non-enumerable) read-only property if not.
So it is safe against any attempt to change or redefine the read-only obj.__objectID__ property after it has been defined, and consistently throws a nice error instead of silently fail.
Finally, in the quite extreme case where some other code would already have defined __objectID__ on a given object, this value would simply be returned.
var getObjectID = (function () {
var id = 0; // Private ID counter
return function (obj) {
if(obj.hasOwnProperty("__objectID__")) {
return obj.__objectID__;
} else {
++id;
Object.defineProperty(obj, "__objectID__", {
/*
* Explicitly sets these two attribute values to false,
* although they are false by default.
*/
"configurable" : false,
"enumerable" : false,
/*
* This closure guarantees that different objects
* will not share the same id variable.
*/
"get" : (function (__objectID__) {
return function () { return __objectID__; };
})(id),
"set" : function () {
throw new Error("Sorry, but 'obj.__objectID__' is read-only!");
}
});
return obj.__objectID__;
}
};
})();

Typescript version of #justin answer, ES6 compatible, using Symbols to prevent any key collision and added into the global Object.id for convenience. Just copy paste the code below, or put it into an ObjecId.ts file you will import.
(enableObjectID)();
declare global {
interface ObjectConstructor {
id: (object: any) => number;
}
}
const uniqueId: symbol = Symbol('The unique id of an object');
export function enableObjectID(): void {
if (typeof Object['id'] !== 'undefined') {
return;
}
let id: number = 0;
Object['id'] = (object: any) => {
const hasUniqueId: boolean = !!object[uniqueId];
if (!hasUniqueId) {
object[uniqueId] = ++id;
}
return object[uniqueId];
};
}
Example of usage:
console.log(Object.id(myObject));

jQuery code uses it's own data() method as such id.
var id = $.data(object);
At the backstage method data creates a very special field in object called "jQuery" + now() put there next id of a stream of unique ids like
id = elem[ expando ] = ++uuid;
I'd suggest you use the same method as John Resig obviously knows all there is about JavaScript and his method is based on all that knowledge.

For the purpose of comparing two objects, the simplest way to do this would be to add a unique property to one of the objects at the time you need to compare the objects, check if the property exists in the other and then remove it again. This saves overriding prototypes.
function isSameObject(objectA, objectB) {
unique_ref = "unique_id_" + performance.now();
objectA[unique_ref] = true;
isSame = objectB.hasOwnProperty(unique_ref);
delete objectA[unique_ref];
return isSame;
}
object1 = {something:true};
object2 = {something:true};
object3 = object1;
console.log(isSameObject(object1, object2)); //false
console.log(isSameObject(object1, object3)); //true

I faced the same problem and here's the solution I implemented with ES6
code
let id = 0; // This is a kind of global variable accessible for every instance
class Animal {
constructor(name){
this.name = name;
this.id = id++;
}
foo(){}
// Executes some cool stuff
}
cat = new Animal("Catty");
console.log(cat.id) // 1

I've used code like this, which will cause Objects to stringify with unique strings:
Object.prototype.__defineGetter__('__id__', function () {
var gid = 0;
return function(){
var id = gid++;
this.__proto__ = {
__proto__: this.__proto__,
get __id__(){ return id }
};
return id;
}
}.call() );
Object.prototype.toString = function () {
return '[Object ' + this.__id__ + ']';
};
the __proto__ bits are to keep the __id__ getter from showing up in the object. this has been only tested in firefox.

Notwithstanding the advice not to modify Object.prototype, this can still be really useful for testing, within a limited scope. The author of the accepted answer changed it, but is still setting Object.id, which doesn't make sense to me. Here's a snippet that does the job:
// Generates a unique, read-only id for an object.
// The _uid is generated for the object the first time it's accessed.
(function() {
var id = 0;
Object.defineProperty(Object.prototype, '_uid', {
// The prototype getter sets up a property on the instance. Because
// the new instance-prop masks this one, we know this will only ever
// be called at most once for any given object.
get: function () {
Object.defineProperty(this, '_uid', {
value: id++,
writable: false,
enumerable: false,
});
return this._uid;
},
enumerable: false,
});
})();
function assert(p) { if (!p) throw Error('Not!'); }
var obj = {};
assert(obj._uid == 0);
assert({}._uid == 1);
assert([]._uid == 2);
assert(obj._uid == 0); // still

This one will calculate a HashCode for each object, optimized for string, number and virtually anything that has a getHashCode function. For the rest it assigns a new reference number.
(function() {
var __gRefID = 0;
window.getHashCode = function(ref)
{
if (ref == null) { throw Error("Unable to calculate HashCode on a null reference"); }
// already cached reference id
if (ref.hasOwnProperty("__refID")) { return ref["__refID"]; }
// numbers are already hashcodes
if (typeof ref === "number") { return ref; }
// strings are immutable, so we need to calculate this every time
if (typeof ref === "string")
{
var hash = 0, i, chr;
for (i = 0; i < ref.length; i++) {
chr = ref.charCodeAt(i);
hash = ((hash << 5) - hash) + chr;
hash |= 0;
}
return hash;
}
// virtual call
if (typeof ref.getHashCode === "function") { return ref.getHashCode(); }
// generate and return a new reference id
return (ref["__refID"] = "ref" + __gRefID++);
}
})();

If you came here because you deal with class instances like me you can use static vars/methods to reference instances by a custom unique id:
class Person {
constructor( name ) {
this.name = name;
this.id = Person.ix++;
Person.stack[ this.id ] = this;
}
}
Person.ix = 0;
Person.stack = {};
Person.byId = id => Person.stack[ id ];
let store = {};
store[ new Person( "joe" ).id ] = true;
store[ new Person( "tim" ).id ] = true;
for( let id in store ) {
console.log( Person.byId( id ).name );
}

Here's a variant of Justin Johnson's answer that provides a scalability benefit when you are creating billions of objects for which you want the ID.
Specifically, rather than solely using a 1-up counter (that might overflow the representational limits of Number, and can't be cycled without risking reusing an ID), we register the object and its newly generated ID with a FinalizationRegistry, such that, at some point after the object is garbage collected, the ID is returned to a freelist for reuse by a newly created object (Python's id function can also return the same ID for multiple objects, so long as the existence of the two objects does not overlap in time).
Limitations:
It only works on objects, not JS primitives (this is somewhat reasonable; unlike Python, where everything is an object, JS primitives typically aren't, and the id function logically only works on objects, since primitives need not "exist" in any reasonably identifiable way).
If the code creates (without discarding) billions of objects, asks for their IDs, then releases them all at once and never asks for an ID again, the recovered IDs in the freelist constitute a memory leak of sorts. Hopefully the JS optimizer stores them efficiently, so the cost remains a small fraction of what the objects themselves cost, but it's still a cost. In cases where objects with IDs are regularly created and destroyed, the wasted memory is roughly tied to the maximum number of such ID-ed objects in existence at any given point in time.
If those limitations aren't a problem though, this works fairly well. I modified the testing code a bit to hand control back to the event loop (and hopefully the garbage collector) now and again while creating 10M garbage objects to ID, and on my browser, nearly half the object IDs get reclaimed for reuse; the final loop making five objects and IDing them produces IDs just above 1M, when over 2M objects had IDs generated at some point. In a realistic scenario with meaningful code executing and real async usage I'd expect better results simply because there would be more opportunities for the finalization registry to perform cleanup.
async function sleep(ms) {
await _sleep(ms);
}
function _sleep(ms) {
return new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
}
(function() {
if ( typeof Object.id != "undefined" ) return;
var freelist = []; // Stores previously used IDs for reuse when an object with
// an ID is garbage collected, so creating and dropping billions
// of objects doesn't consume all available IDs
const registry = new FinalizationRegistry((freeid) => {
freelist.push(freeid);
});
var id = 0;
Object.id = function(o) {
if ( typeof o.__uniqueid != "undefined" ) {
return o.__uniqueid;
}
Object.defineProperty(o, "__uniqueid", {
value: freelist.length ? freelist.pop() : ++id,
enumerable: false,
// This could go either way, depending on your
// interpretation of what an "id" is
writable: false
});
registry.register(o, o.__uniqueid); // Sometime after o is collected, its ID
// will be reclaimed for use by a new object
return o.__uniqueid;
};
})();
var obj = { a: 1, b: 1 };
console.log(Object.id(obj));
console.log(Object.id([]));
console.log(Object.id({}));
console.log(Object.id(/./));
var idsum = 0; // So we do something real to prevent optimizing out code
// Make a ton of temporary objects with IDs, handing control back to the event loop
// every once in a while to (hopefully) see some IDs returned to the pool
for (var i = 0; i < 1000000; ++i) {
idsum += Object.id({c: i});
}
sleep(10).then(() => {
console.log(Object.id(function() { console.log("Hey"); }));
for (var i = 1000000; i < 2000000; ++i) {
idsum += Object.id({c: i});
}
console.log(Object.id(function() { console.log("There"); }));
sleep(10).then(() => {
for (var i = 0; i < 5; ++i) {
console.log(Object.id([i]));
}
console.log(idsum);
});
});
for (var k in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(k)) {
console.log(k);
}
}
// Logged keys are `a` and `b`

Enabling function to take different sets of arguments

In js, how do you create a function that can take differing sets of arguments?
(Or do you have to create a new function with a different identifier for each set of arguments?)
Example:
Argument set 1: (0, 4, ‘purple')
Argument set 2: (‘purple’, true, [‘foo’, ’bar’])
I want my function to handle [int, int, str] (Argument set 1) differently than [str, bool, array] (Argument set 2). Do I have to use if statements and typeof?

I would suggest limiting the argument list to only one argument, being an object that could or could not hold certain key/value pairs.
function allKindsOfInput(myObject)
{
if (myObject.color)
{
// do stuff with color
}
if (myObject.settings)
{
// do stuff with settings
}
}
One clear interface will help keep things clean.

Yes, you will need to check the data types using typeof / instanceof,
var myFn = function() {
var args = arguments;
if (typeof args[0] === 'number') { ... }
// or check if 2nd param is array
if (args[2] instanceof Array) { ... }
// etc
}

The best way is to use parameters as object.
function paintCar(settings)
{
defaults = {
paintTimes: 3,
color: '#fff',
paintWheels: false,
preWash: true,
useAssistant: true,
paintBrand: 'super-paint',
brushSize: 4
}
settings = settings || {}
for (var key in defaults) {
if (settings.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
defaults[key] = settings[key];
}
}
settings = defaults;
// do smth
}
paintCar();
paintCar({preWash: false});
paintCar({paintTimes: 2, color: '#448'});
// etc

Is it possible to set an object's property value as an object within javascript?

So here's what I'm trying todo:
Note: These objects are just an example of what I'm trying todo, they are not the actual objects I'm working with.
var object = {
header: "Header",
selectorObject: selector = new Selector(), //Property has Object value
footer: "Footer"
}
function Selector() {
var index = 0;
this.rotateLeft = function() {
index++;
return index;
}
this.rotateRight = function() {
index--;
return index;
}
}
I want to know if it's possible to give an object property value of an already defined object?
If this is possible, how do I access the object once its been assigned to the property?
I know that this is possible in another form:
var object = {
header: "Header",
selectorObject: {
//Properties and functions
},
footer: "Footer"
}
However, my selectorObject will be used more than once, so it would be a shame to duplicate code for every object I use it in.

With the code above, you can just hand the selectorObject to a new instance of whatever new object you need, the instance would be the same:
object.selectorObject.rotateLeft()
> 1
object.selectorObject.rotateLeft()
> 2
var obj2 = { selectorObject: object.selectorObject };
obj2.selectorObject.rotateLeft()
> 3

unique object identifier in javascript

I need to do some experiment and I need to know some kind of unique identifier for objects in javascript, so I can see if they are the same. I don't want to use equality operators, I need something like the id() function in python.
Does something like this exist ?

Update My original answer below was written 6 years ago in a style befitting the times and my understanding. In response to some conversation in the comments, a more modern approach to this is as follows:
(function() {
if ( typeof Object.id != "undefined" ) return;
var id = 0;
Object.id = function(o) {
if ( typeof o.__uniqueid != "undefined" ) {
return o.__uniqueid;
}
Object.defineProperty(o, "__uniqueid", {
value: ++id,
enumerable: false,
// This could go either way, depending on your
// interpretation of what an "id" is
writable: false
});
return o.__uniqueid;
};
})();
var obj = { a: 1, b: 1 };
console.log(Object.id(obj));
console.log(Object.id([]));
console.log(Object.id({}));
console.log(Object.id(/./));
console.log(Object.id(function() {}));
for (var k in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(k)) {
console.log(k);
}
}
// Logged keys are `a` and `b`
If you have archaic browser requirements, check here for browser compatibility for Object.defineProperty.
The original answer is kept below (instead of just in the change history) because I think the comparison is valuable.
You can give the following a spin. This also gives you the option to explicitly set an object's ID in its constructor or elsewhere.
(function() {
if ( typeof Object.prototype.uniqueId == "undefined" ) {
var id = 0;
Object.prototype.uniqueId = function() {
if ( typeof this.__uniqueid == "undefined" ) {
this.__uniqueid = ++id;
}
return this.__uniqueid;
};
}
})();
var obj1 = {};
var obj2 = new Object();
console.log(obj1.uniqueId());
console.log(obj2.uniqueId());
console.log([].uniqueId());
console.log({}.uniqueId());
console.log(/./.uniqueId());
console.log((function() {}).uniqueId());
Take care to make sure that whatever member you use to internally store the unique ID doesn't collide with another automatically created member name.

So far as my observation goes, any answer posted here can have unexpected side effects.
In ES2015-compatible enviroment, you can avoid any side effects by using WeakMap.
const id = (() => {
let currentId = 0;
const map = new WeakMap();
return (object) => {
if (!map.has(object)) {
map.set(object, ++currentId);
}
return map.get(object);
};
})();
id({}); //=> 1

Latest browsers provide a cleaner method for extending Object.prototype. This code will make the property hidden from property enumeration (for p in o)
For the browsers that implement defineProperty, you can implement uniqueId property like this:
(function() {
var id_counter = 1;
Object.defineProperty(Object.prototype, "__uniqueId", {
writable: true
});
Object.defineProperty(Object.prototype, "uniqueId", {
get: function() {
if (this.__uniqueId == undefined)
this.__uniqueId = id_counter++;
return this.__uniqueId;
}
});
}());
For details, see https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Object/defineProperty

Actually, you don't need to modify the object prototype and add a function there. The following should work well for your purpose.
var __next_objid=1;
function objectId(obj) {
if (obj==null) return null;
if (obj.__obj_id==null) obj.__obj_id=__next_objid++;
return obj.__obj_id;
}

For browsers implementing the Object.defineProperty() method, the code below generates and returns a function that you can bind to any object you own.
This approach has the advantage of not extending Object.prototype.
The code works by checking if the given object has a __objectID__ property, and by defining it as a hidden (non-enumerable) read-only property if not.
So it is safe against any attempt to change or redefine the read-only obj.__objectID__ property after it has been defined, and consistently throws a nice error instead of silently fail.
Finally, in the quite extreme case where some other code would already have defined __objectID__ on a given object, this value would simply be returned.
var getObjectID = (function () {
var id = 0; // Private ID counter
return function (obj) {
if(obj.hasOwnProperty("__objectID__")) {
return obj.__objectID__;
} else {
++id;
Object.defineProperty(obj, "__objectID__", {
/*
* Explicitly sets these two attribute values to false,
* although they are false by default.
*/
"configurable" : false,
"enumerable" : false,
/*
* This closure guarantees that different objects
* will not share the same id variable.
*/
"get" : (function (__objectID__) {
return function () { return __objectID__; };
})(id),
"set" : function () {
throw new Error("Sorry, but 'obj.__objectID__' is read-only!");
}
});
return obj.__objectID__;
}
};
})();

Typescript version of #justin answer, ES6 compatible, using Symbols to prevent any key collision and added into the global Object.id for convenience. Just copy paste the code below, or put it into an ObjecId.ts file you will import.
(enableObjectID)();
declare global {
interface ObjectConstructor {
id: (object: any) => number;
}
}
const uniqueId: symbol = Symbol('The unique id of an object');
export function enableObjectID(): void {
if (typeof Object['id'] !== 'undefined') {
return;
}
let id: number = 0;
Object['id'] = (object: any) => {
const hasUniqueId: boolean = !!object[uniqueId];
if (!hasUniqueId) {
object[uniqueId] = ++id;
}
return object[uniqueId];
};
}
Example of usage:
console.log(Object.id(myObject));

jQuery code uses it's own data() method as such id.
var id = $.data(object);
At the backstage method data creates a very special field in object called "jQuery" + now() put there next id of a stream of unique ids like
id = elem[ expando ] = ++uuid;
I'd suggest you use the same method as John Resig obviously knows all there is about JavaScript and his method is based on all that knowledge.

For the purpose of comparing two objects, the simplest way to do this would be to add a unique property to one of the objects at the time you need to compare the objects, check if the property exists in the other and then remove it again. This saves overriding prototypes.
function isSameObject(objectA, objectB) {
unique_ref = "unique_id_" + performance.now();
objectA[unique_ref] = true;
isSame = objectB.hasOwnProperty(unique_ref);
delete objectA[unique_ref];
return isSame;
}
object1 = {something:true};
object2 = {something:true};
object3 = object1;
console.log(isSameObject(object1, object2)); //false
console.log(isSameObject(object1, object3)); //true

I faced the same problem and here's the solution I implemented with ES6
code
let id = 0; // This is a kind of global variable accessible for every instance
class Animal {
constructor(name){
this.name = name;
this.id = id++;
}
foo(){}
// Executes some cool stuff
}
cat = new Animal("Catty");
console.log(cat.id) // 1

I've used code like this, which will cause Objects to stringify with unique strings:
Object.prototype.__defineGetter__('__id__', function () {
var gid = 0;
return function(){
var id = gid++;
this.__proto__ = {
__proto__: this.__proto__,
get __id__(){ return id }
};
return id;
}
}.call() );
Object.prototype.toString = function () {
return '[Object ' + this.__id__ + ']';
};
the __proto__ bits are to keep the __id__ getter from showing up in the object. this has been only tested in firefox.

Notwithstanding the advice not to modify Object.prototype, this can still be really useful for testing, within a limited scope. The author of the accepted answer changed it, but is still setting Object.id, which doesn't make sense to me. Here's a snippet that does the job:
// Generates a unique, read-only id for an object.
// The _uid is generated for the object the first time it's accessed.
(function() {
var id = 0;
Object.defineProperty(Object.prototype, '_uid', {
// The prototype getter sets up a property on the instance. Because
// the new instance-prop masks this one, we know this will only ever
// be called at most once for any given object.
get: function () {
Object.defineProperty(this, '_uid', {
value: id++,
writable: false,
enumerable: false,
});
return this._uid;
},
enumerable: false,
});
})();
function assert(p) { if (!p) throw Error('Not!'); }
var obj = {};
assert(obj._uid == 0);
assert({}._uid == 1);
assert([]._uid == 2);
assert(obj._uid == 0); // still

This one will calculate a HashCode for each object, optimized for string, number and virtually anything that has a getHashCode function. For the rest it assigns a new reference number.
(function() {
var __gRefID = 0;
window.getHashCode = function(ref)
{
if (ref == null) { throw Error("Unable to calculate HashCode on a null reference"); }
// already cached reference id
if (ref.hasOwnProperty("__refID")) { return ref["__refID"]; }
// numbers are already hashcodes
if (typeof ref === "number") { return ref; }
// strings are immutable, so we need to calculate this every time
if (typeof ref === "string")
{
var hash = 0, i, chr;
for (i = 0; i < ref.length; i++) {
chr = ref.charCodeAt(i);
hash = ((hash << 5) - hash) + chr;
hash |= 0;
}
return hash;
}
// virtual call
if (typeof ref.getHashCode === "function") { return ref.getHashCode(); }
// generate and return a new reference id
return (ref["__refID"] = "ref" + __gRefID++);
}
})();

If you came here because you deal with class instances like me you can use static vars/methods to reference instances by a custom unique id:
class Person {
constructor( name ) {
this.name = name;
this.id = Person.ix++;
Person.stack[ this.id ] = this;
}
}
Person.ix = 0;
Person.stack = {};
Person.byId = id => Person.stack[ id ];
let store = {};
store[ new Person( "joe" ).id ] = true;
store[ new Person( "tim" ).id ] = true;
for( let id in store ) {
console.log( Person.byId( id ).name );
}

Here's a variant of Justin Johnson's answer that provides a scalability benefit when you are creating billions of objects for which you want the ID.
Specifically, rather than solely using a 1-up counter (that might overflow the representational limits of Number, and can't be cycled without risking reusing an ID), we register the object and its newly generated ID with a FinalizationRegistry, such that, at some point after the object is garbage collected, the ID is returned to a freelist for reuse by a newly created object (Python's id function can also return the same ID for multiple objects, so long as the existence of the two objects does not overlap in time).
Limitations:
It only works on objects, not JS primitives (this is somewhat reasonable; unlike Python, where everything is an object, JS primitives typically aren't, and the id function logically only works on objects, since primitives need not "exist" in any reasonably identifiable way).
If the code creates (without discarding) billions of objects, asks for their IDs, then releases them all at once and never asks for an ID again, the recovered IDs in the freelist constitute a memory leak of sorts. Hopefully the JS optimizer stores them efficiently, so the cost remains a small fraction of what the objects themselves cost, but it's still a cost. In cases where objects with IDs are regularly created and destroyed, the wasted memory is roughly tied to the maximum number of such ID-ed objects in existence at any given point in time.
If those limitations aren't a problem though, this works fairly well. I modified the testing code a bit to hand control back to the event loop (and hopefully the garbage collector) now and again while creating 10M garbage objects to ID, and on my browser, nearly half the object IDs get reclaimed for reuse; the final loop making five objects and IDing them produces IDs just above 1M, when over 2M objects had IDs generated at some point. In a realistic scenario with meaningful code executing and real async usage I'd expect better results simply because there would be more opportunities for the finalization registry to perform cleanup.
async function sleep(ms) {
await _sleep(ms);
}
function _sleep(ms) {
return new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
}
(function() {
if ( typeof Object.id != "undefined" ) return;
var freelist = []; // Stores previously used IDs for reuse when an object with
// an ID is garbage collected, so creating and dropping billions
// of objects doesn't consume all available IDs
const registry = new FinalizationRegistry((freeid) => {
freelist.push(freeid);
});
var id = 0;
Object.id = function(o) {
if ( typeof o.__uniqueid != "undefined" ) {
return o.__uniqueid;
}
Object.defineProperty(o, "__uniqueid", {
value: freelist.length ? freelist.pop() : ++id,
enumerable: false,
// This could go either way, depending on your
// interpretation of what an "id" is
writable: false
});
registry.register(o, o.__uniqueid); // Sometime after o is collected, its ID
// will be reclaimed for use by a new object
return o.__uniqueid;
};
})();
var obj = { a: 1, b: 1 };
console.log(Object.id(obj));
console.log(Object.id([]));
console.log(Object.id({}));
console.log(Object.id(/./));
var idsum = 0; // So we do something real to prevent optimizing out code
// Make a ton of temporary objects with IDs, handing control back to the event loop
// every once in a while to (hopefully) see some IDs returned to the pool
for (var i = 0; i < 1000000; ++i) {
idsum += Object.id({c: i});
}
sleep(10).then(() => {
console.log(Object.id(function() { console.log("Hey"); }));
for (var i = 1000000; i < 2000000; ++i) {
idsum += Object.id({c: i});
}
console.log(Object.id(function() { console.log("There"); }));
sleep(10).then(() => {
for (var i = 0; i < 5; ++i) {
console.log(Object.id([i]));
}
console.log(idsum);
});
});
for (var k in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(k)) {
console.log(k);
}
}
// Logged keys are `a` and `b`

Creating coexisting objects in javascript

Is it possible to create multiple instances of an object in javascript such that they all are ready to be manipulated/edited at the same time? This relates to my earlier question here: Structure of orders in restaurant. What I am trying to do is keep each order object ready for editing until the customer is ready to pay/leave so that new items can be added to or existing items removed from them as desired - and it has to be possible for all order objects at the same time.
If the number of tables isn't very big - say, about 15 - would it be better to create a static array of 15 objects with different table numbers?

Er, yes - trivially (rough code warning):
// your class function
function MyClass(params)
{
this.foo = params.foo;
this.bar = params.bar;
// etc...
}
// object or array to maintain dynamic list o instances
var instances = [];
// create instances in storage object
instances.push(new MyClass({foo:123, bar:456}));
instances.push(new MyClass({foo:'abc', bar:'def'}));
// or alternately by key
instances['mykey'] = new Myclass({foo:'argle',bar'bargle'});
Don't create a static array because there's just no need when a dynamic structure is trivial enough. Perhaps I'm missing something from your question?
Edit: update with more illustrative code based on your earlier question, yet another way to solve the problem.
At this point however this is kind of a teaching thing only. If this was real application I would advise you to model all of this in a server side language - JS is really for controlling UI behaviour not business object modelling.
var Restaurant = {
Order : function (params)
{
this.id = params.id;
this.table = params.table;
this.items = [];
this.number_of_items = 0;
if(!Restaurant.Order.prototype.addItem)
{
Restaurant.Order.prototype.addItem = function (item)
{
// assuming name is unique let's use this for an associative key
this.items[item.name] = item;
this.number_of_items++;
//returning the item let's you chain methods
return item;
}
}
},
Item : function (params)
{
this.name = params.name;
this.quantity = params.quantity;
this.unit_price = params.unit_price;
if(!Restaurant.Item.prototype.price)
{
Restaurant.Item.prototype.price = function ()
{
return this.quantity * this.unit_price;
}
}
},
orders : [],
addOrder : function (order)
{
// assuming id is unique let's use this for an associative key
this.orders[order.id] = order;
//returning the item let's you chain methods
return order;
}
}
with (Restaurant)
{
with (addOrder( new Restaurant.Order({id:123, table:456}) )) // chaining!
{
addItem( new Restaurant.Item({name: 'foo', quantity: 10, unit_price: 10}) );
addItem( new Restaurant.Item({name: 'bar', quantity: 100, unit_price: 1}) );
}
}
var num_items = Restaurant.orders[123].items['foo'].price(); // returns 100

Since you are using object literals on your previous question, I suggest you to give a look to this prototypal inheritance technique, it will allow you to easily create new object instances inheriting from a base instance, for example:
// Helper function
if (typeof Object.create !== 'function') {
Object.create = function (o) {
function F() {}
F.prototype = o;
return new F();
};
}
// "Base" order object
var order = {
id: 0,
table: 0,
items: []
};
var orders = [], n = 10;
while (n--) { // make 10 objects inheriting from order and add them to an array
orders.push(Object.create(order));
}
Later on, you can access and manipulate your order objects in the orders array:
orders[0].id = 10;
orders[0].table = 5;
orders[0].items.push({
name: "Beer",
quantity: 1,
unit_price: 3
});