CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascript
Snowball
Snowball

Reputation: 11686

Define a function with a prototype chain

Suppose I have an object X defined as

var X = function () {};
X.prototype.doSomething = function () {};
X.prototype.doSomethingElse = function () {};

Is it possible to construct a function f so that f instanceof X? Note that I must also be able to do f() without a TypeError.

In Mozilla, I can do exactly what I want with __proto__:

var f = function () {};
f.__proto__ = new X;

However, that is (1) nonstandard and (2) deprecated. MDN's page for __proto__ suggests using Object.getPrototypeOf instead, but what I'm really looking for is an Object.setPrototypeOf (which doesn't exist, though the idea is brought up in this bug report).

A cheap approximation to what I want is

var f = function () {};
jQuery.extend(f, new X);

Unfortunately, this does not make f instanceof X true (nor would I expect it to!).

Upvotes: 1

Views: 249

Answers (1)

Bergi
Bergi

Reputation: 664297

No, it is not possible (in a standard way). Every possibility to create a callable object (i.e., a function) will create one inheriting from Function.prototype1; and you can't change the [[prototype]] of an object afterwards2.

See also:

1: OK, ES6 allows us to subclass Function. But that's not as useful as it sounds.
2: Since ES6, you can use Object.setPrototypeOf.

Upvotes: 4

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