Was there a way to create an object without a prototype prior to ES5?

Question

Was there a way to create an object without a prototype prior to ES5?

i.e. something like Object.create(null) (ES5)

I thought something like this might work, but the final statement unexpectedly returns true:

function withPrototype(p) {
  function temp(){}
  temp.prototype = p;
  return new temp();
}

Object.getPrototypeOf(withPrototype(null)) === Object.prototype; // true

Object.getPrototypeOf is ES5. I use it here for exposition.

Answer 1

As @Oriol has shown, there was no "official" (spec-compliant) way to do this.

However, there was indeed an object that had no prototype - Object.prototype itself.

15.2.4 Properties of the Object Prototype Object

The value of the internal [[Prototype]] property of the Object prototype object is null and the value of the internal [[Class]] property is "Object".

You could potentially "create" such an object by instantiating a new environment ("realm" in ES6 terms), e.g. via an <iframe>, capturing its Object.prototype, stripping it of its properties and voilá - you've got a new empty object.

function getNoProtoObject(callback) {
  var iframe = document.createElement('iframe');
  iframe.onload = function() {
    var obj = iframe.contentWindow.Object.prototype;
    document.body.removeChild(iframe);

    // Remove all built-in enumerable properties.
    for (var name in obj) {
      delete obj[name];
    }

    // Remove known built-in non-enumerable properties, which may vary.
    delete obj['constructor'];
    delete obj['hasOwnProperty'];
    delete obj['isPrototypeOf'];
    delete obj['propertyIsEnumerable'];
    delete obj['toLocaleString'];
    delete obj['toString'];
    delete obj['toSource'];
    delete obj['valueOf'];
    delete obj['watch'];
    delete obj['unwatch'];
    delete obj['__defineGetter__'];
    delete obj['__defineSetter__'];
    delete obj['__lookupGetter__'];
    delete obj['__lookupSetter__'];
    delete obj['__proto__'];

    callback(obj);
  };
  iframe.src = 'about:blank';
  iframe.style.display = 'none';
  document.body.appendChild(iframe);
}

getNoProtoObject(function(o) {
  console.log(o);                        // Object {  }
  console.log(Object.getPrototypeOf(o)); // null
  console.log(o.__proto__);              // undefined
});