Enhanced JavaScript inheritance

Even more compact than this but exactly equivalent and a little bit of mind twister....

Note that the "super" function name is specified only once in the constructor function. And if the order of parameters of "super" is consistent and it ignores the extra params the

arguments.callee.prototype.__proto__.constructor.call(this, name, salary);

in Executive can even be replaced by:

arguments.callee.prototype.__proto__.constructor.apply(this, arguments);

making it completely boiler plate.

This will allow private and read-only properties also. Can anyone show how?

Try this Jsfiddle .

Also check out this example based on ngjsod directive which diagrams JavaScript objects.

Code:

function Person(name) {
        this.name = name;
}

Person.prototype.getName = function() {
        return this.name;
}

function Employee(name, salary) {
        // One time initialization of instance methods
        if (arguments.callee.prototype.__proto__ === Object.prototype) {
                arguments.callee.prototype.__proto__ = Person.prototype;
                arguments.callee.prototype.getSalary = function() {
                        return this.salary;
                }
        }
        arguments.callee.prototype.__proto__.constructor.call(this, name);
        this.salary = salary;
}

function Executive(name, salary, bonus) {
        // One time initialization of instance methods
        if (arguments.callee.prototype.__proto__ === Object.prototype) {
                arguments.callee.prototype.__proto__ = Employee.prototype;
                arguments.callee.prototype.getBonus = function() {
                        return this.bonus;
                }
        }
        arguments.callee.prototype.__proto__.constructor.call(this, name, salary);
        this.bonus = bonus;
}

var hotshot = new Executive('Hotshot', 400000, 100000);
var workerbee = new Employee('Workerbee', 100000);

hotshot instanceof Executive => true

hotshot instanceof Employee => true

hotshot instanceof Person => true

workerbee instanceof Executive => false

workerbee instanceof Employee => true

workerbee instanceof Person => true

The same diagram shown using my FireJSOD Firebug extension:

It is my understanding that arguments.callee is going to be deprecated in ES6. No fear, it can simply be replaced by the CTOR function name.