what happens when javascript array is treated like an object?

Question

the index variable below is incorrectly initialized because f() will be returning stuff other than numbers, like strings. So what's the worst that can happen here? My testing seems to indicate that it has no effect, but now I am wondering...

function index(o, f) {
    var index = []; // should be index = {};
    each(o, function(k, v, o) { index[f(k, v, o)] = v; });
    return index;
}

Answer 1

Javascript arrays are special objects that have an automatically set length property and inherit Array.prototype.
Unless you use a length property, there is no harm in treating an array as an object.

Answer 2

You'll be creating an associative array, which is a valid JavaScript structure. Although, it is technically different than an object, you can interact with the array just like you would an object (for ... in to iterate, myarray[key] to fetch values). You may want to consider returning an object instead of an array if you suspect some keys will be strings.

Answer 3

An array is an object, thus it can be treated as such without much side effects. Doing so however might result in some confusion, as the length property does not count non-numeric keys, and all the array prototype functions will likewise ignore them.

Just change [] to {}