Which datastructure is this? - Javascript

Question

I came across a code snippet in JS

globe =
{
   country : 'USA',
   continent : 'America'
}

Using the variable declared above by:

alert(globe.country);

Questions:

1. Is this a JS class with 2 members?
2. Why is the var keyword not used when declaring globe?
3. If it's a class, can I have member functions as well?

Thanks

Answer 1

That is a JavaScript object. Written in the object literal notation.

Answer 2

1. That is a JS object with two properties.

2. Not using var places the variable in the global scope

3. Though not a class, it can still have functions as properties

The functions can be tacked on two different ways:

globe.myFunc = function() { /* do something */ };

or

globe = {
    ...
    myFunc: function() { /* do something */ }
}

Answer 3

JavaScript is not an object-oriented language so there are not classes in the same sense as in a language like Java or C#. JavaScript is a prototype based language. So this is an object with two members. You can add additional members like you would to any other object and they can be functions.