Assigning Parent object's prototype vs Object.create(Parent.prototype)

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1

Hi all,

I’ve been following the Learn Web Development track and this is my first time on the forums.

Understanding Object prototypes and inheritance has been a super confusing journey so far. In this article we’re supposed to set Teacher()'s prototype and set constructor reference. A few questions:

  1. Why is the below code necessary after we’ve defined a Teacher constructor function using Person.call in the function body?
Teacher.prototype = Object.create(Person.prototype);
  1. Why can’t we do this instead?
Teacher.prototype = Person.prototype;

Apologies if this is a noob question, I just haven’t been able to wrap my head around this.

2

Hello @lakshverma23

do not be sorry and i also see that the coding style is confusing in js

so let me ask @chrisdavidmills to help you with that

and have a nice day both of you :slight_smile:

1 Like
3

Thanks @justsomeone! Would love to hear from @chrisdavidmills :slight_smile:

4

you very welcome :slight_smile:

5

Pushing this back up. Could anyone please help me understand this?

6

Hey @Ran @ayanda could you help us here

7

Will have a look tonight @Justsomeone.

8

thanks a lot @Ran :slight_smile:

9

Hi,

Apologies, just a bit busy these days. I think @lakshverma23 question is a great one. I am still looking into it. The way I work is to run the code itself and see the outcome.

So when we use

Teacher.prototype = Object.create(Person.prototype);

The outcome when I run

Teacher.prototype.constructor

on the console is

TeacherObjectCreate
TeacherObjectCreate494×180 4.92 KB

when I run the it with the following

Teacher.prototype = Person.prototype;

the outcome when I run

Teacher.prototype.constructor

is the following

TeacherNoObjectCreate
TeacherNoObjectCreate447×212 5.25 KB

You might notice the double forware slashes on the last image where it starts with “// Teacher.prototype = …”

so I am just wondering if there is any object inheritance in this case and if the prototype of teacher is person in this case. I m going to have to look a bit further and get back.

10

nice idea @Ran

think we need to call some of the methods defined in person using teacher object for both cases and see if both inhirit it or not

well done @Ran

11

Hi @justsomeone,

Apologies, my work has called me away. I might will try to come back in a month when I get a bit more settled with the new work.

Ran

12

Hello @Ran

it’s ok do not be sorry and congratulations for your new work and good luck

see you later and have a nice day :slight_smile: