Let's start by clarifying something:
new Object() is the same as {}
new Array() is the same as []
The latter are just shortened forms of the former.
Behind the scenes, everything in javascript is basically an object (this is an exaggeration but fairly accurate). Arrays are simply derived from objects. Here's a fairly rudimentary example of what an Array REALLY looks like:
var myArray = {};
myArray[0] = 'value1';
myArray[1] = 'value2';
myArray[2] = 'value3';
myArray[length] = 3;
The prototype of an array contains all the methods. For example:
// myArray#push
myArray.prototype.push = function(val){
myArray[this.length] = val;
this.length++;
}
Another way to illustrate this is to take an array and add keys that are not numeric:
var example = [];
example.push(0);
example.push(1);
example.push(2);
example['a'] = 'a';
example['b'] = 'b';
example['c'] = 'c';
example.log = function(){
for(var i = 0, l = this.length; i < l; i++){
console.log( example[i] );
}
console.log(this['a']);
console.log(this['b']);
console.log(this['c']);
}
// example[0] is 0
// example[1] is 1
// example[2] is 2
// example.log is my custom function
example.log(); // results in
// 0
// 1
// 2
// a
// b
// c
Also, don't always believe everything the console tells you. For example, if you do this:
var console_confusion = {};
console_confusion.length = 100;
console_confusion.splice = function(){ /* do absolutely nothing */ };
console.log( console_confusion );//results in
//
// in Chrome:
// [undefined × 100]
//
Chrome will interprut anything with a numeric length property and a splice function as an Array. This is why jQuery objects look like Arrays in the console.
