CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptprivate-members
SimplGy
SimplGy

Reputation: 20437

Implementing private instance variables in Javascript

I don't know how I've missed this for so long. I've been presuming private instance variables to work like this, but they don't. They're private (as in non-global), certainly, but the variables are shared across instances. This led to some very confusing bugs.

I thought I was following the best practices implemented by some of the best libraries out there, but it seems I missed something.

var Printer = (function(){
    var _word;

    Printer = function(word){
        _word = word;
    }

    _print = function(){
        console.log(_word);
    }

    Printer.prototype = {
        print: _print
    }
    return Printer;
})();

var a = new Printer("Alex");
var b = new Printer("Bob");

a.print(); //Prints Bob (!)
b.print(); //Prints Bob

I have looked at this post, but it doesn't describe a best practice for implementing private instance variables. (is this even the name of what I want?) Method and variable scoping of private and instance variables in JavaScript

I also looked at this post, but the use of the 'this' keyword is what I used to do. Because it doesn't obfuscate I was trying to avoid it. Is this really the only way? Implementing instance methods/variables in prototypal inheritance

Upvotes: 22

Views: 17890

Answers (4)

Nitin Jadhav
Nitin Jadhav

Reputation: 7306

If you are willing to use ES2015 classes (I already answered it here, but repeating for the sake of convenience),

with ESNext, you can use Javascript private variables like this:

class Foo {
  #bar = '';
  constructor(val){
      this.#bar = val;
  }
  otherFn(){
      console.log(this.#bar);
  }
}

Private field #bar is not accessible outside Foo class.

Upvotes: 1

nashcheez
nashcheez

Reputation: 5183

A slight modification to the code using this will work. The correct instance of Printer.prototype.print was not being instantiated for the a object.

var Printer = (function(){
    var _word;

    Printer = function(word){
        this._word = word;
    }

    _print = function(){
        console.log(this._word);
    }

    Printer.prototype = {
        print: _print
    }

    return Printer;
})();

var a = new Printer("Alex");
var b = new Printer("Bob");

a.print(); //Prints Alex
b.print(); //Prints Bob

Upvotes: 1

Raynos
Raynos

Reputation: 169391

Privates are expensive, avoid them if possible

Private doesn't exist. You can do one of two things to emulate this.

  • closures
  • Weakmaps

Closures

function makePrinter(word) {
  return {
    print: function () {
      console.log(word)
    }
  }
}

WeakMap

Browser support for weakmaps is awful. You will probably need an emulation, I recommend pd.Name

var Printer = (function () {
  var privates = function (obj) {
    var v = map.get(obj)
    if (v === undefined) {
      v = {}
      map.set(obj, v)
    } 
    return v
  }, map = new WeakMap()

  return {
    constructor: function (word) {
      privates(this).word = word
    },
    print: function () {
      console.log(privates(this).word)
    }
  }
}());

Sensible objects

var Printer = {
  constructor: function (word) {
    this._word = word
  },
  print: function () {
    console.log(this._word)
  }
}

Upvotes: 13

Matt Ball
Matt Ball

Reputation: 359816

You're doing some wonky stuff with that closure. _word needs to be declared in the Printer function, not lost in anonymous-closure land:

function Printer(word) {
    var _word = word;

    this.print = function () {
        console.log(_word);
    }
}

var a = new Printer("Alex");
var b = new Printer("Bob");

a.print(); //Prints Alex
b.print(); //Prints Bob

This keeps _word private, at the expense of creating a new print function on every Printer instance. To cut this cost, you expose _word and use a single print function on the prototype:

function Printer(word) {
    this._word = word;
}

Printer.prototype.print = function () {
    console.log(this._word);
}

var a = new Printer("Alex");
var b = new Printer("Bob");

a.print(); //Prints Alex
b.print(); //Prints Bob

Does it really matter that _word is exposed? Personally, I don't think so, especially given the _ prefix.

Upvotes: 28

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