Array of Objects distiller

distill.js

// Found myself needing to do this the other day...
// 
// Map an array of objects down to a single object in one pass
function distill (a, b) { 
  a[b.name] = b.value;
  return a;
}

// Say you have objects that follow this format
var obj1 = {
  name: 'blah',
  value: 222
}

// And you want to combine them into a single object with this resulting format
mappedObj = {
  blah: 222
}

// So let's make a couple more examples to test with
var obj2 = { name: 'barf', value: 888 }
var obj3 = { name: 'fleh', value: 999 }
var obj4 = { name: 'blah', value: 444 }

// Drop them into an array and run them through the reducer
[obj1, obj2, obj3, obj4].reduce(distill, {}) // <= note the {} param

// Produces:
{
  barf: 888,
  blah: 444,
  fleh: 999
}