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JS Array a['1'] doesnot gives an error

I have declared an array a = [1,2,3,4,5]
When I write a[1] it returns 2 which is perfectly fine but when I write a['1'] it also gives me 2 instead of giving an error.
I was expecting an error there. Why does it behave like that??

All property names are strings.
If you pass a number, it gets converted to a string before being used to look up the property value.
console.log(1 == '1');

In JS an Array is basically an Object and thus mostly behaves like one. In this case, these are equivalent as long as you dont access Array's .length or try iterating a:
const a = {"0": foo};
const b = ["foo"];
Also this would work:
const a = ["foo"];
a.bar = "baz";
console.log(a);
So that a[1] and a['1'] are equivalent is exactly what's to be expected.

First of all, array is also object having property names as 0,1,2,....n
Property names must be strings. This means that non-string objects cannot be used as keys in the object. Any non-string object, including a number, is typecasted into a string via the toString method. [Ref]

array.indexOf in TypeScript/JavaScript [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
indexOf method in an object array?
(29 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
UPDATE: Although this question is marked as duplicated with this. But #ssube's way is neat and much smarter.
UPDATE2: Seems there is new way to do it in the comment by #Grungondola.
I am using Typescript.
This works well.
var array1 = [];
array1.push(5);
array1.push(6);
console.log("a", array2.indexOf(6));
But this does not work well. Because array2.indexOf returns -1 which means it does not find it.
var array2 = [];
array2.push({aa:5,bb:5});
array2.push({aa:6,bb:6});
console.log(array2.indexOf({aa:6,bb:6}));
Looks like indexOf does not support Object. Does TypeScript have its own ways to deal with this kind of problem? Thanks.

No. The problem is not with Object, but that you are creating two different objects.
The object literal syntax ({foo: 'bar'}) declares an object inline. When the script is executed, the object is created. Using that syntax multiple times creates multiple objects.
You can easily test that with {foo: 3} === {foo: 3}. This will evaluate to false, but they are not the same object (reference).
The indexOf method checks if the object, string, number, etc, is present in the array. You're passing a new object, which is not in the array.
If you have a reference to the object, you can use that and indexOf will work:
var foo = {aa:5,bb:5}, bar = {aa:6,bb:6};
var array2 = [];
array2.push(foo);
array2.push(bar);
console.log(array2.indexOf(foo));
Because you're referring to the same instance, this will print the index.
You can also use filter or find with a predicate to perform a deep search:
function deepIndexOf(arr, obj) {
return arr.findIndex(function (cur) {
return Object.keys(obj).every(function (key) {
return obj[key] === cur[key];
});
});
}
var array2 = [];
array2.push(foo);
array2.push(bar);
console.log(deepIndexOf(array2, foo));
This won't recurse into nested objects, but will accomplish the comparison you're looking for (equivalence on two objects and their immediate fields).

Converting object to array

I'm getting list of elements but it is object when I want it to be array. I got simply code like this:
var obj = document.getElementsByClassName('_54nc');
var arr = $.map(obj, function(value, index) { return [value]; });
console.log(typeof arr);
And console is saying "object". How do I convert this?

In javascript, typeof an array is object. One way you can check if you are getting an array is to look at the constructor of the object:
possibleArray.constructor == Array
If this condition returns true then you have yourself an array.
It is also worth mentioning that you have mixed plain javascript with jQuery. You could improve your code by simply having the following:
var arr = $('._54nc')
You can then use arr[0] to get the first element or arr[1] to get the second and so on.
arr will be an array like object, which in javascript, support numeric subscripting.

What’s the difference between “{}” and “[]” while declaring a JavaScript array?

What’s the difference between “{}” and “[]” while declaring a JavaScript array?
Normally I declare like
var a=[];
What is the meaning of declaring the array as var a={}

Nobody seems to be explaining the difference between an array and an object.
[] is declaring an array.
{} is declaring an object.
An array has all the features of an object with additional features (you can think of an array like a sub-class of an object) where additional methods and capabilities are added in the Array sub-class. In fact, typeof [] === "object" to further show you that an array is an object.
The additional features consist of a magic .length property that keeps track of the number of items in the array and a whole slew of methods for operating on the array such as .push(), .pop(), .slice(), .splice(), etc... You can see a list of array methods here.
An object gives you the ability to associate a property name with a value as in:
var x = {};
x.foo = 3;
x["whatever"] = 10;
console.log(x.foo); // shows 3
console.log(x.whatever); // shows 10
Object properties can be accessed either via the x.foo syntax or via the array-like syntax x["foo"]. The advantage of the latter syntax is that you can use a variable as the property name like x[myvar] and using the latter syntax, you can use property names that contain characters that Javascript won't allow in the x.foo syntax.
A property name can be any string value.
An array is an object so it has all the same capabilities of an object plus a bunch of additional features for managing an ordered, sequential list of numbered indexes starting from 0 and going up to some length. Arrays are typically used for an ordered list of items that are accessed by numerical index. And, because the array is ordered, there are lots of useful features to manage the order of the list .sort() or to add or remove things from the list.

When you declare
var a=[];
you are declaring a empty array.
But when you are declaring
var a={};
you are declaring a Object .
Although Array is also Object in Javascript but it is numeric key paired values.
Which have all the functionality of object but Added some few method of Array like Push,Splice,Length and so on.
So if you want Some values where you need to use numeric keys use Array.
else use object.
you can Create object like:
var a={name:"abc",age:"14"};
And can access values like
console.log(a.name);

var a = [];
it is use for brackets for an array of simple values.
eg.
var name=["a","b","c"]
var a={}
is use for value arrays and objects/properties also.
eg.
var programmer = { 'name':'special', 'url':'www.google.com'}

It can be understood like this:
var a= []; //creates a new empty array
var a= {}; //creates a new empty object
You can also understand that
var a = {}; is equivalent to var a= new Object();
Note:
You can use Arrays when you are bothered about the order of elements(of same type) in your collection else you can use objects. In objects the order is not guaranteed.

they are two different things..
[] is declaring an Array:
given, a list of elements held by numeric index.
{} is declaring a new object:
given, an object with fields with Names and type+value,
some like to think of it as "Associative Array".
but are not arrays, in their representation.
You can read more # This Article

Syntax of JSON
object = {} | { members }
members = pair | pair, members
pair = string : value
array = [] | [ elements ]
elements = value | value elements
value =
string|number|object|array|true|false|null

In JavaScript Arrays and Objects are actually very similar, although on the outside they can look a bit different.
For an array:
var array = [];
array[0] = "hello";
array[1] = 5498;
array[536] = new Date();
As you can see arrays in JavaScript can be sparse (valid indicies don't have to be consecutive) and they can contain any type of variable! That's pretty convenient.
But as we all know JavaScript is strange, so here are some weird bits:
array["0"] === "hello"; // This is true
array["hi"]; // undefined
array["hi"] = "weird"; // works but does not save any data to array
array["hi"]; // still undefined!
This is because everything in JavaScript is an Object (which is why you can also create an array using new Array()). As a result every index in an array is turned into a string and then stored in an object, so an array is just an object that doesn't allow anyone to store anything with a key that isn't a positive integer.
So what are Objects?
Objects in JavaScript are just like arrays but the "index" can be any string.
var object = {};
object[0] = "hello"; // OK
object["hi"] = "not weird"; // OK
You can even opt to not use the square brackets when working with objects!
console.log(object.hi); // Prints 'not weird'
object.hi = "overwriting 'not weird'";
You can go even further and define objects like so:
var newObject = {
a: 2,
};
newObject.a === 2; // true

[ ] - this is used whenever we are declaring an empty array,
{ } - this is used whenever we declare an empty object
typeof([ ]) //object
typeof({ }) //object
but if your run
[ ].constructor.name //Array
so from this, you will understand it is an array here Array is the name of the base class.
The JavaScript Array class is a global object that is used in the construction of arrays which are high-level, list-like objects.

Associative array versus object in JavaScript

In my script there is a need to create a hash table, and I searched in google for this. Most of the folks are recommending JavaScript object for this purpose. The The problem is some of the keys in the hash table have a "." in them. I am able to create these keys easily with the associative arrays.
I don't understand why associative arrays are bad. The first thing that is mentioned on the sites that I looked at is the length property.
I am coming from the Perl background, where I used hashes. Most common uses were to get the value from a key, check if a key exists, delete a key-value pair, and add a key-value pair. If these are my common uses, can I safely use an associative array?

In JavaScript, objects are associative arrays...there aren't separate concepts for them. You are also able to safely use '.' in a key name, but you can only access the value using the bracket notation:
var foo = {}
foo['bar'] = 'test';
foo['baz.bin'] = 'value';
alert(foo.bar); // Shows 'test'
alert(foo['baz.bin']); // Shows 'value'
If you're using them already and they work, you're safe.

In a JavaScript, an object and array are pretty much the same thing, with an array having a bit of magical functionality (autoupdating the length property and such) and prototype methods suitable for arrays. It is also much easier to construct an object than using an associative array:
var obj = {"my.key": "myValue"};
vs.
var obj = [];
obj["my.key"] = "myValue";
Therefore never use the array object for this, but just the regular object.
Some functionality:
var obj = {}; // Initialized empty object
Delete a key-value pair:
delete obj[key];
Check if a key exists:
key in obj;
Get the key value:
obj[key];
Add a key-value pair:
obj[key] = value;

Because there is no such thing as built-in associative arrays in JavaScript. That's why it's bad.
In fact, when you use something like:
theArray["a"] = "Hello, World!";
It simply creates a property called "a" and set its value to "Hello, World!". This is why the length is always 0, and why the output of alert(theArray) is empty.

Actually, an "associative array" is pretty much the same as an "array-like object" in ECMAScript. Even arrays are objects in ECMAScript, just with the exception to have numeric keys (which are still strings in the background) and a .length property, along with some inherited methods from Array.prototype.
So, a Perl hash and an ECMAScript object behave similarly. You might not know that you can access object properties not only via a dot, but also with brackets and strings, like
var myObj = { foo: 42 };
myObj.foo; // 42
myObj['foo']; // 42
Knowing that, you can also use keys with .
var myObj = { };
myObj['hello.foo.world'] = 42;
Of course, you can access that key only with the bracket notation.

You can use . in key names on JavaScript objects (AKA associative arrays) if you'd like; they're accepted without issue. The minor drawback is you can't use shortcut notations with the dotted keys, e.g.
var x = {};
x['hello'] = 'there';
alert(x.hello);
is perfectly acceptable and will pop up an alert with 'there' in it. But if you use a dotted name:
var x = {};
x['this.is'] = 'sparta';
alert(x.this.is);
will fail, as JavaScript will look for an attribute named this in the x object, which does not exist. There is only the this.is attribute.

There isn't an associative array. It's just an object.
foo.bar; // Equivalent to...
foo["bar"]; // Looks like associative array.

For the sake of convenience of using data, there should be no difference between an object and an array. You can think of it as an object or you can think of it as an associative array. At the end, you can just think of everything as data.
For PHP, [ ] accepts 0, 1, or more items(array), and it is called an associative array. It is JSON in PHP's coat:
$data = ["message"=>[ "id"=>405, "description"=>"Method not allowed.", "detail"=>[]], "object" => []];
For JavaScript, { } accepts 0, 1, or more items(array), and it is called an object. This data format is JSON:
data = {"message": { "id":405, "description":"Method not allowed.", "detail" : {}}, "object" : {}};
I just call them data. The simplest way to describe data is JSON, or its variants.