Inheritance in JS

bad-practice.js

function A(a) {
  this.varA = a;
}

// What is the purpose of including varA in the prototype when A.prototype.varA will always be shadowed by
// this.varA, given the definition of function A above?
A.prototype = {
  varA: null,  // Shouldn't we strike varA from the prototype as doing nothing?
      // perhaps intended as an optimization to allocate space in hidden classes?
      // https://developers.google.com/speed/articles/optimizing-javascript#Initializing-instance-variables
      // would be valid if varA wasn't being initialized uniquely for each instance
  doSomething: function() {
    // ...
  }
};

function B(a, b) {
  A.call(this, a);
  this.varB = b;
}
B.prototype = Object.create(A.prototype, {
  varB: {
    value: null, 
    enumerable: true, 
    configurable: true, 
    writable: true 
  },
  doSomething: { 
    value: function() { // override
      A.prototype.doSomething.apply(this, arguments); // call super
      // ...
    },
    enumerable: true,
    configurable: true, 
    writable: true
  }
});
B.prototype.constructor = B;

var b = new B();
b.doSomething();

class.js

'use strict';

class Polygon {
  constructor(height, width) {
    this.height = height;
    this.width = width;
  }
}

class Square extends Polygon {
  constructor(sideLength) {
    super(sideLength, sideLength);
  }
  get area() {
    return this.height * this.width;
  }
  set sideLength(newLength) {
    this.height = newLength;
    this.width = newLength;
  }
}

var square = new Square(2);

classical-by-crockford.js

function Parenizor(value) {
    this.setValue(value);
}

Parenizor.method('setValue', function (value) {
    this.value = value;
    return this;
});

Parenizor.method('getValue', function () {
    return this.value;
});

Parenizor.method('toString', function () {
    return '(' + this.getValue() + ')';
});

myParenizor = new Parenizor(0);
myString = myParenizor.toString();

object-create

var a = {a: 1}; 
// a ---> Object.prototype ---> null

var b = Object.create(a);
// b ---> a ---> Object.prototype ---> null
console.log(b.a); // 1 (inherited)

var c = Object.create(b);
// c ---> b ---> a ---> Object.prototype ---> null

var d = Object.create(null);
// d ---> null
console.log(d.hasOwnProperty); 
// undefined, because d doesn't inherit from Object.prototype

prototype-using-proto.js

let animal = {
  eats: true
};
let rabbit = {
  jumps: true
};

rabbit.__proto__ = animal; // (*)

// we can find both properties in rabbit now:
alert( rabbit.eats ); // true (**)
alert( rabbit.jumps ); // true