Adding Custom Functions Into Array.prototype

Answer :

Modifying the built-in object prototypes is a bad idea in general, because it always has the potential to clash with code from other vendors or libraries that loads on the same page.

In the case of the Array object prototype, it is an especially bad idea, because it has the potential to interfere with any piece of code that iterates over the members of any array, for instance with for .. in.

To illustrate using an example (borrowed from here):

Array.prototype.foo = 1;  // somewhere deep in other javascript code... var a = [1,2,3,4,5]; for (x in a){     // Now foo is a part of EVERY array and      // will show up here as a value of 'x' } 

Unfortunately, the existence of questionable code that does this has made it necessary to also avoid using plain for..in for array iteration, at least if you want maximum portability, just to guard against cases where some other nuisance code has modified the Array prototype. So you really need to do both: you should avoid plain for..in in case some n00b has modified the Array prototype, and you should avoid modifying the Array prototype so you don't mess up any code that uses plain for..in to iterate over arrays.

It would be better for you to create your own type of object constructor complete with doSomething function, rather than extending the built-in Array.

What about Object.defineProperty?

There now exists Object.defineProperty as a general way of extending object prototypes without the new properties being enumerable, though this still doesn't justify extending the built-in types, because even besides for..in there is still the potential for conflicts with other scripts. Consider someone using two Javascript frameworks that both try to extend the Array in a similar way and pick the same method name. Or, consider someone forking your code and then putting both the original and forked versions on the same page. Will the custom enhancements to the Array object still work?

This is the reality with Javascript, and why you should avoid modifying the prototypes of built-in types, even with Object.defineProperty. Define your own types with your own constructors.

While the potential for clashing with other bits o' code the override a function on a prototype is still a risk, if you want to do this with modern versions of JavaScript, you can use the Object.defineProperty method, turning off the enumerable bit, e.g.

// functional sort Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'sortf', {     value: function(compare) { return [].concat(this).sort(compare); } }); 

There is a caution! Maybe you did that: fiddle demo

Let us say an array and a method foo which return first element:

var myArray = ["apple","ball","cat"];  foo(myArray) // <- 'apple'  function foo(array){     return array[0] } 

The above is okay because the functions are uplifted to the top during interpretation time.

But, this DOES NOT work: (Because the prototype is not definned)

myArray.foo() // <- 'undefined function foo'  Array.prototype.foo = function(){     return this[0] } 

For this to work, simply define prototypes at the top:

Array.prototype.foo = function(){     return this[0] }  myArray.foo() // <- 'apple' 

And YES! You can override prototypes!!! It is ALLOWED. You can even define your own own add method for Arrays.