Question

In C++ I have learned that Variables are the used for Data Storage and Objects are the instance of a Class. But in JavaScript I have seen people referring variables as an Object. Why are the Variables referred as Objects in JavaScript. I am getting confused with that.

Answer 1

In javascript, a variable can either hold a single piece of data itself (like the number 3 or a text string like "Having Fun") or it can hold a reference to an entity like an array or an object.

An object in javascript is essentially a container in javascript. It can hold multiple properties that are each accessed with a key. For example, an object could have a property named “name” that contains the value “Bob”, it could also contain a property named “Age” with a value of 29. Objects can have as many properties as one wants. As such objects are essentially a collection of multiple variables, where each variable has its own name and value.

There are technically no “classes” in javascript so it doesn’t work the same way that C++ does. Javascript uses prototypes and objects instead of classes and instances in C++.

In reference to the specifics of your question, a variable can contain a value or a reference to an object. There is no right or wrong, it depends upon the problem to be solved.

Some examples:

var person = {};      // a variable `person` that contains a reference to an empty object
person.name = "Bob";  // add a property "name" and value to the object
person.age = 29;      // add a property "age" and value to the object

var numPeople = 12;   // a variable that just contains a number