Chapter 8. Using Inheritance

JavaScript implements prototypal inheritance

Understanding Prototypal Inheritance

Prototypal inheritance is implemented using delegation
Delegation is better than inheritance
Instead of relying on base class or superclass, prototypal inheritance relies on an object next in the chain to serve as its base
Prototypal inheritance is dynamic which allows altering object that serves as the base at runtime
Base object is called the object's prototype

Prototype Chain

Object chaining
Reflect.getPrototypeOf

Behavior of Get vs. Set

Gets search deep, but sets are always shallow

Inheriting from a Class

Extending a class
Overriding methods
extends implies prototypal inheritance
- object.prototype is different from Reflect.getPrototypeOf(object) https://stackoverflow.com/q/38740610
- object.prototype is instance's prototype. Reflect.getPrototypeOf(object) is prototype of instance's parent
Changing the prototype chain using Reflect.setPrototypeOf()
Using default constructors
Extending legacy classes
Managing instance types with species