JavaScript Objects Best Practices

1. Use the literal syntax for object creation.

// bad
const item = new Object();

// good
const item = {}; // best practice

2. Use computed property names when creating objects with dynamic property names.

Why? They allow you to define all the properties of an object in one place.

function getKey(k) {
  return `a key named ${k}`;
}

// bad
const obj = {
  id: 5,
  name: 'San Francisco',
};
obj[getKey('enabled')] = true;

// good
const obj = {
  id: 5,
  name: 'San Francisco',
  [getKey('enabled')]: true,   // best practice
};

3. Use object method shorthand.

// bad
const atom = {
  value: 1,

  addValue: function (value) {
    return atom.value + value;
  },
};

// good
const atom = {
  value: 1,

  addValue(value) {           // best practice
    return atom.value + value;
  },
};

4. Use property value shorthand.

Why? It is shorter and descriptive.

const lukeSkywalker = 'Luke Skywalker';

// bad
const obj = {
  lukeSkywalker: lukeSkywalker,
};

// good
const obj = {
  lukeSkywalker,  // best practice
};

5. Group your shorthand properties at the beginning of your object declaration.

Why? It’s easier to tell which properties are using the shorthand.

const anakinSkywalker = 'Anakin Skywalker';
const lukeSkywalker = 'Luke Skywalker';

// bad
const obj = {
  episodeOne: 1,
  twoJediWalkIntoACantina: 2,
  lukeSkywalker,
  episodeThree: 3,
  mayTheFourth: 4,
  anakinSkywalker,
};

// good
const obj = {
  lukeSkywalker,   // adding shorthand properties at the beginning
  anakinSkywalker, // shorthand properties at the beginning
  episodeOne: 1,
  twoJediWalkIntoACantina: 2,
  episodeThree: 3,
  mayTheFourth: 4,
};

6. Only quote properties that are invalid identifiers.

Why? In general we consider it subjectively easier to read. It improves syntax highlighting, and is also more easily optimized by many JS engines.

// bad
const bad = {
  'foo': 3,
  'bar': 4,
  'data-blah': 5,
};

// good
const good = {
  foo: 3,
  bar: 4,
  'data-blah': 5,
};

7. Do not call Object.prototype methods directly, such as hasOwnProperty,propertyIsEnumerable, and isPrototypeOf.

Why? These methods may be shadowed by properties on the object in question - consider { hasOwnProperty: false } - or, the object may be a null object (Object.create(null)).

// bad
console.log(object.hasOwnProperty(key));

// good
console.log(Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(object, key));

// best
const has = Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty; // cache the lookup once, in module scope.
/* or */
import has from 'has'; // https://www.npmjs.com/package/has
// ...
console.log(has.call(object, key));

8. Prefer the object spread operator over Object.assign to shallow-copy objects. Use the object rest operator to get a new object with certain properties omitted.

// very bad
const original = { a: 1, b: 2 };
const copy = Object.assign(original, { c: 3 }); // this mutates `original` ಠ_ಠ
delete copy.a; // so does this

// bad
const original = { a: 1, b: 2 };
const copy = Object.assign({}, original, { c: 3 }); // copy => { a: 1, b: 2, c: 3 }

// good
const original = { a: 1, b: 2 };
const copy = { ...original, c: 3 }; // copy => { a: 1, b: 2, c: 3 }

const { a, ...noA } = copy; // noA => { b: 2, c: 3 }