eFarmony Data Structures: Objects as Data Models

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In this section we will explore how to represent our eFarmony data as a JavaScript object.

You will be placing all your code into the scripts.js file.

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Animal User Model

This object will be the model of a single animal user. Extra points if you get the pun in the last sentence.

Object

An object to hold our data model...

• Create a variable, name it animal, and assign it an object literal.

With Dot Notation…

• Add a property called username and assign it a value.
• Ensure that your username property exists in animal by inspecting it in the console.

With Bracket Notation…

• Add a property called tagline and give it a value.
• Check that your property exists in the animal object by inspecting it in the console.
• Create a variable called noises and assign it an empty array []
• Add the noises array to your object.
• Inspect your handiwork! Your object should look something like this:

  { username: 'DaffyDuck', tagline: 'Yippeee!', noises: [] }

Loops

• Loop through the properties of your animal object.
• Count everytime it loops to keep track of the number of properties on your object.
• Write an if/else statement in your loop:
  • If the key is username, console.log('Hi my name is ' + ___) //fill in with object's username value.
  • If the key is tagline, console.log('I like to say ' + ___) //fill in with object's tagline value.
• What happens if you return 'Hi my name is ' + ___ instead of using console.log() inside the loop?

Review

Let's go over some concepts:

• What are the different ways you can add properties and values to objects?
• Which of these methods would you use if you wanted to add a property to an object that had a weird symbol (think '&')?
• What about if the property is a variable, how does that change the syntax?