What techniques can be used to define a class in JavaScript, and what are their trade-offs?

Here's the way to do it without using any external libraries:

// Define a class like this
function Person(name, gender){

   // Add object properties like this
   this.name = name;
   this.gender = gender;
}

// Add methods like this.  All Person objects will be able to invoke this
Person.prototype.speak = function(){
    alert("Howdy, my name is" + this.name);
};

// Instantiate new objects with 'new'
var person = new Person("Bob", "M");

// Invoke methods like this
person.speak(); // alerts "Howdy, my name is Bob"

Now the real answer is a whole lot more complex than that. For instance, there is no such thing as classes in JavaScript. JavaScript uses a prototype-based inheritance scheme.

In addition, there are numerous popular JavaScript libraries that have their own style of approximating class-like functionality in JavaScript. You'll want to check out at least Prototype and jQuery.

Deciding which of these is the "best" is a great way to start a holy war on Stack Overflow. If you're embarking on a larger JavaScript-heavy project, it's definitely worth learning a popular library and doing it their way. I'm a Prototype guy, but Stack Overflow seems to lean towards jQuery.

As far as there being only "one way to do it", without any dependencies on external libraries, the way I wrote is pretty much it.

The best way to define a class in JavaScript is to not define a class.

Seriously.

There are several different flavors of object-orientation, some of them are:

• class-based OO (first introduced by Smalltalk)
• prototype-based OO (first introduced by Self)
• multimethod-based OO (first introduced by CommonLoops, I think)
• predicate-based OO (no idea)

And probably others I don't know about.

JavaScript implements prototype-based OO. In prototype-based OO, new objects are created by copying other objects (instead of being instantiated from a class template) and methods live directly in objects instead of in classes. Inheritance is done via delegation: if an object doesn't have a method or property, it is looked up on its prototype(s) (i.e. the object it was cloned from), then the prototype's prototypes and so on.

In other words: there are no classes.

JavaScript actually has a nice tweak of that model: constructors. Not only can you create objects by copying existing ones, you can also construct them "out of thin air", so to speak. If you call a function with the new keyword, that function becomes a constructor and the this keyword will not point to the current object but instead to a newly created "empty" one. So, you can configure an object any way you like. In that way, JavaScript constructors can take on one of the roles of classes in traditional class-based OO: serving as a template or blueprint for new objects.

Now, JavaScript is a very powerful language, so it is quite easy to implement a class-based OO system within JavaScript if you want to. However, you should only do this if you really have a need for it and not just because that's the way Java does it.

var Animal = function(options) {
    var name = options.name;
    var animal = {};

    animal.getName = function() {
        return name;
    };

    var somePrivateMethod = function() {

    };

    return animal;
};

// usage
var cat = Animal({name: 'tiger'});

I think you should read Douglas Crockford's Prototypal Inheritance in JavaScript and Classical Inheritance in JavaScript.

Examples from his page:

Function.prototype.method = function (name, func) {
    this.prototype[name] = func;
    return this;
};

Effect? It will allow you to add methods in more elegant way:

function Parenizor(value) {
    this.setValue(value);
}

Parenizor.method('setValue', function (value) {
    this.value = value;
    return this;
});

I also recommend his videos: Advanced JavaScript.

You can find more videos on his page: http://javascript.crockford.com/ In John Reisig book you can find many examples from Douglas Crockfor's website.

Because I will not admit the YUI/Crockford factory plan and because I like to keep things self contained and extensible this is my variation:

function Person(params)
{
  this.name = params.name || defaultnamevalue;
  this.role = params.role || defaultrolevalue;

  if(typeof(this.speak)=='undefined') //guarantees one time prototyping
  {
    Person.prototype.speak = function() {/* do whatever */};
  }
}

var Robert = new Person({name:'Bob'});

where ideally the typeof test is on something like the first method prototyped

If you're going for simple, you can avoid the "new" keyword entirely and just use factory methods. I prefer this, sometimes, because I like using JSON to create objects.

function getSomeObj(var1, var2){
  var obj = {
     instancevar1: var1,
     instancevar2: var2,
     someMethod: function(param)
     {  
          //stuff; 
     }
  };
  return obj;
}

var myobj = getSomeObj("var1", "var2");
myobj.someMethod("bla");

I'm not sure what the performance hit is for large objects, though.

The simple way is:

function Foo(a) {
  var that=this;

  function privateMethod() { .. }

  // public methods
  that.add = function(b) {
    return a + b;
  };
  that.avg = function(b) {
    return that.add(b) / 2; // calling another public method
  };
}

var x = new Foo(10);
alert(x.add(2)); // 12
alert(x.avg(20)); // 15

The reason for that is that this can be bound to something else if you give a method as an event handler, so you save the value during instantiation and use it later.

Edit: it's definitely not the best way, just a simple way. I'm waiting for good answers too!

MooTools (My Object Oriented Tools) is centered on the idea of classes. You can even extend and implement with inheritance.

When mastered, it makes for ridiculously reusable, powerful javascript.

JavaScript is object-oriented, but it's radically different than other OOP languages like Java, C# or C++. Don't try to understand it like that. Throw that old knowledge out and start anew. JavaScript needs a different thinking.

I'd suggest to get a good manual or something on the subject. I myself found ExtJS Tutorials the best for me, although I haven't used the framework before or after reading it. But it does give a good explanation about what is what in JavaScript world. Sorry, it seems that that content has been removed. Here's a link to archive.org copy instead. Works today. :P