As we have discussed earlier in the course, in JavaScript, objects are oftentimes used to represent (or model) real world items
Here’s an example of using an object to represent a car:
const myCar = {
make: 'Honda',
model: 'Accord',
color: 'blue',
year: 2015
}
console.log(myHonda.make)
console.log(myHonda.model)
console.log(myHonda.color)
// change color
myHonda.color = `blue`
console.log(myHonda.color)
In practice, we often need to create many objects of the same kind, like cars, or users or whatever
Classes are a tool that developers use to quickly produce similar objects
If we were creating an application for a used car dealership that needed to keep track of many cars, we could use “classes” to help us quickly produce cars within our program
Here’s what that class might look like:
// define Car class
class Car {
constructor(make, model, color, year) {
this._make = make
this._model = model
this._color = color
this._year = year
}
get make() {
return this._make
}
get model() {
return this._model
}
get color() {
return this._color
}
get year () {
return this._year
}
set model (newModel) {
this._model = newModel
}
set color (newColor) {
this._color = newColor
}
}
// create new "cars" using the Car class as a blueprint
const myHonda = new Car('Honda', 'Accord', 'gray', '2017')
console.log(myHonda.make)
console.log(myHonda.model)
console.log(myHonda.color)
// change color
myHonda.color = `blue`
console.log(myHonda.color)
Compare our Car class with our earlier car object example. Note the similarities and the differences. We’ll discuss those differences in the upcoming sections