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Object vs Map

Written byPhuoc Nguyen
Category
JavaScript
Created
10 Aug, 2020
Last updated
05 Feb, 2021
Contributors
DRIMchansky
sstricklandmylo
Storing the key and value pairs is a common thing we have to deal with in JavaScript. The most basic approach is to use an object:
const person = {};
person.name = 'Foo';
person.age = 20;

// Or
const person = {
name: 'Foo',
age: 20,
};
Being introduced from ES6, the `Map` data structure provides the same ability. The sample code above can be rewritten with `Map` as following:
const person = new Map();
person.set('name', 'Foo');
person.set('age', 20);

Differences

  1. Object only accepts string and symbol keys. Another types will be converted to string automatically. `Map` on the other hand accepts any type of key.
  2. We can iterate over the properties of a `Map` directly using `forEach` or `for ... of` statement:
    const styles = new Map();
    styles.set('color', 'blue');
    styles.set('fontSize', '12px');

    styles.forEach((value, key) => console.log(key, '=', value));

    // Output:
    // color = blue
    // fontSize = 12px
    Objects are not iterable directly. In order to loop over the properties of an object, we have to use either `Object.keys`, `Object.values` or `Object.entries` to receives the list of keys, values or pairs of key and value.
    styles = {
    color: 'blue',
    fontSize: '12px',
    };

    Object.keys(styles).forEach((key) => console.log(key, '=', styles[key]));

    // Output:
    // color = blue
    // fontSize = 12px
  3. Object have special properties such as `constructor`, `__proto__`, etc.
    let person = {};
    person['constructor']; // ƒ Object() { [native code] }
    While `Map` only consists of what we define:
    let person = new Map();
    person.get('constructor'); // undefined
  4. JSON supports `Object`:
    const person = {};
    person.name = 'Foo';
    person.age = 20;

    JSON.stringify(person); // "{"name":"Foo","age":20}"
    With `Map`, it's not possible to get the proper data when being serialized with JSON:
    const person = new Map();
    person.set('name', 'Foo');
    person.set('age', 20);

    JSON.stringify(person); // "{}"

Good to know

Maps keep the order of items. It means when you loop over keys of a map, we will see the same order as when they're inserted to the map.
It's true for objects that only consists of string and symbol keys. The order of object's keys aren't kept if there is a key that needs to be converted to string.
let codes = { A: 65, B: 66, C: 67, 0: 48 };
codes; // {0: 0, A: 65, B: 66, C: 67}
Object.keys(codes); // ["0", "A", "B", "C"]

Good practice

If we want to store the key/value pairs without caring about serializing them in JSON, then use `Map`. Looping through and getting the size of a map is more comfortable than doing with an object.
`Object` should be used if we want to convert back and forth between raw data and JSON, or include a specific business logic:
const person = {
firstName: 'Foo',
lastName: 'Bar',
getFullName: function () {
return `\${this.firstName} \${this.lastName}`;
},
};

See also

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Phước Nguyễn