Can you explain the usage of array literal notation in javascript and provide examples of when it is most effective to

When running JSLint, I encountered the following error message:

Issue identified at line 11 character 33: Please use the array literal notation [] instead.

var myArray = new Array();
    

What exactly is the array literal notation and what's the reason behind JSLint recommending its usage over the current method?

I see no problem with using new Array(); here... Am I overlooking something?

Answer №1

When creating a new array in JavaScript, you can use array literal notation by simply using empty brackets like this:

var myArray = [];

This method is considered the modern way of defining arrays and is often preferred for its simplicity and cleanliness.

To illustrate the difference, consider the following examples:

var a = [],            // these are equivalent
    b = new Array(),   // both a and b have a length of 0

    c = ['foo', 'bar'],           // these are the same
    d = new Array('foo', 'bar'),  // both c and d contain 2 strings

    // however, these examples show their distinction:
    e = [3],             // e.length == 1, e[0] == 3
    f = new Array(3);   // f.length == 3, f[0] == undefined

For more information: Find out the difference between “Array()” and “[]” when declaring a JavaScript array here

Answer №2

Check out this related discussion: The pitfalls of using var x = new Array();

In addition to Crockford's argument, I think it's interesting to note that other programming languages have similar data structures with the same syntax. For instance, Python has lists and dictionaries; here are some examples:

// a Python list
a = [66.25, 333, 333, 1, 1234.5]

// a Python dictionary
tel = {'jack': 4098, 'sape': 4139}

Isn't it fascinating how Python shares grammatical similarities with Javascript? (yes, the semicolons are absent at the end, but they're not mandatory in Javascript either)

By leveraging common programming paradigms, we eliminate the need for unnecessary relearning and promote efficiency in development.

Answer №4

After reviewing @ecMode jsperf, I conducted additional tests.

I found that on Chrome, using push to add elements to the array is significantly faster when using new Array().

You can check out the performance comparison here: http://jsperf.com/new-vs-literal-array-declaration/2

Interestingly, adding elements using index is slightly quicker for [].

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