JavaScript Object Id

Question

Do JavaScript objects/variables have some sort of unique identifier? Like Ruby has object_id. I don't mean the DOM id attribute, but rather some sort of memory address of some kind.

Answer 1

No, objects don't have a built in identifier, though you can add one by modifying the object prototype. Here's an example of how you might do that:

(function() {
    var id = 0;

    function generateId() { return id++; };

    Object.prototype.id = function() {
        var newId = generateId();

        this.id = function() { return newId; };

        return newId;
    };
})();

That said, in general modifying the object prototype is considered very bad practice. I would instead recommend that you manually assign an id to objects as needed or use a touch function as others have suggested.