Array

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The Array object, as with arrays in other programming languages, enables storing a collection of
multiple items under a single variable name, and has members for performing common array
operations.

Description

In JavaScript, arrays aren't primitives but are instead Array objects with the following core
characteristics:

• JavaScript arrays are resizable and can contain a mix of different data types. (When
those characteristics are undesirable, use typed arrays instead.)

• JavaScript arrays are not associative arrays and so, array elements cannot be
accessed using arbitrary strings as indexes, but must be accessed using nonnegative
integers (or their respective string form) as indexes.

• JavaScript arrays are zero-indexed: the first element of an array is at index 0, the
second is at index 1, and so on — and the last element is at the value of the
array's length property minus 1.

• JavaScript array-copy operations create shallow copies. (All standard built-in copy
operations with any JavaScript objects create shallow copies, rather than deep copies).

Array indices
Array objects cannot use arbitrary strings as element indexes (as in an associative
array) but must use nonnegative integers (or their respective string form). Setting or
accessing via non-integers will not set or retrieve an element from the array list itself,
but will set or access a variable associated with that array's object property
collection. The array's object properties and list of array elements are separate, and
the array's traversal and mutation operations cannot be applied to these named
properties.

Array elements are object properties in the same way that toString is a property (to
be specific, however, toString() is a method). Nevertheless, trying to access an
element of an array as follows throws a syntax error because the property name is
not valid:

JS
arr.0; // a syntax error

JavaScript syntax requires properties beginning with a digit to be accessed using

JavaScript

JavaScript (JS) is a lightweight interpreted (or just-in-time compiled) programming language

with first-class functions. While it is most well-known as the scripting language for Web
pages, many non-browser environments also use it, such as [Link], Apache
CouchDB and Adobe Acrobat. JavaScript is a prototype-based, garbage-
collected, dynamic language, supporting multiple paradigms such as imperative, functional,
and object-oriented.

JavaScript's dynamic capabilities include runtime object construction, variable parameter lists,
function variables, dynamic script creation (via eval), object introspection
(via for...in and Object utilities), and source-code recovery (JavaScript functions store their
source text and can be retrieved through toString()).

This section is dedicated to the JavaScript language itself, and not the parts that are specific to
Web pages or other host environments. For information about APIs that are specific to Web
pages, please see Web APIs and DOM.

The standards for JavaScript are the ECMAScript Language Specification (ECMA-262) and
the ECMAScript Internationalization API specification (ECMA-402). As soon as one browser
implements a feature, we try to document it. This means that cases where some proposals for
new ECMAScript features have already been implemented in browsers, documentation and
examples in MDN articles may use some of those new features. Most of the time, this happens
between the stages 3 and 4, and is usually before the spec is officially published.

Do not confuse JavaScript with the Java programming language — JavaScript

is not "Interpreted Java". Both "Java" and "JavaScript" are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Oracle in the U.S. and other countries. However, the two programming languages have very
different syntax, semantics, and use.

JavaScript documentation of core language features (pure ECMAScript, for the most part)
includes the following:

• The JavaScript guide

• The JavaScript reference

For more information about JavaScript specifications and related technologies, see JavaScript
technologies overview.
Beginner's tutorials

Our learn web development core modules contain modern, up-to-date tutorials covering
JavaScript fundamentals.

Your first website: Adding interactivity

This article provides a brief tour of what JavaScript is and how to use it, aimed at people who are
completely new to web development.

Dynamic scripting with JavaScript

This module focuses on the essentials of the core JavaScript language, plus some key
surrounding topics — learning these topics will give you a solid basis to work from.

JavaScript frameworks and libraries

JavaScript frameworks are an essential part of modern front-end web development, providing
developers with tried and tested tools for building scalable, interactive web applications. Many
modern companies use frameworks as a standard part of their tooling, so many front-end
development jobs now require framework experience. This set of articles provides a
comfortable starting point to help you begin learning frameworks.

JavaScript guides

Fundamental language guides

JavaScript Guide

A much more detailed guide to the JavaScript language, aimed at those with previous
programming experience either in JavaScript or another language.

Intermediate

Advanced JavaScript objects

The object-oriented nature of JavaScript is important to understand if you want to go further

with your knowledge of the language and write more efficient code, therefore we've provided
this module to help you.

Asynchronous JavaScript

In this module, we take a look at asynchronous JavaScript, why it is important, and how it can
be used to effectively handle potential blocking operations, such as fetching resources from a
server.

Client-side web APIs

Explores what APIs are, and how to use some of the most common APIs you'll come across
often in your development work.

JavaScript language overview

An overview of the basic syntax and semantics of JavaScript for those coming from other
programming languages to get up to speed.

JavaScript data structures

Overview of available data structures in JavaScript.

Equality comparisons and sameness

JavaScript provides three different value comparison operations: strict equality using ===, loose
equality using ==, and the [Link]() method.

Enumerability and ownership of properties

How different methods that visit a group of object properties one-by-one handle the
enumerability and ownership of properties.

Closures

A closure is the combination of a function and the lexical environment within which that
function was declared.

Advanced

Inheritance and the prototype chain

Explanation of the widely misunderstood and underestimated prototype-based inheritance.

Memory Management

Memory life cycle and garbage collection in JavaScript.

Reference

Browse the complete JavaScript reference documentation.

Standard objects

Get to know standard built-in

objects: Array, Boolean, Error, Function, JSON, Math, Number, Object, RegExp, String, Map, Set
, WeakMap, WeakSet, and others.

Expressions and operators

Learn more about the behavior of JavaScript's operators instanceof, typeof, new, this,
the operator precedence, and more.

Statements and declarations

Learn how do-while, for-in, for-of, try-catch, let, var, const, if-else, switch, and more JavaScript
statements and keywords work.

Functions

Learn how to work with JavaScript's functions to develop your applications.

Classes

JavaScript classes are the most appropriate way to do object-oriented programming.