JavaScript: using constructor without operator 'new'

Posted by GetFree on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by GetFree
Published on 2009-12-18T13:56:54Z Indexed on 2010/03/23 19:33 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 290

Filed under:

JavaScript

|

contructor

|

object-construction

|

new-operator

Please help me to understand why the following code works:

<script>
    var re = RegExp('\\ba\\b') ;
    alert(re.test('a')) ;
    alert(re.test('ab')) ;
</script>

In the first line there is no new operator.

As far as I know, a contructor in JavaScript is a function that initialize objects created by the operator new and they are not meant to return anything.

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about JavaScript

CHAT ROOMs 7 by 6

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am looking for chatroom on one page with 7 loggedin users and 6+rows for say 42 users.these users will keep on adding wthnew users.Need urgent help.A PRETTY UNUSUAL Q FOR MOST OF U.What is MORE REQ new features: Usernames are unique to users currently chatting You can see a "currently chatting"… >>> More
Integrating JavaScript Unit Tests with Visual Studio

as seen on Stephen Walter - Search for 'Stephen Walter'
Modern ASP.NET web applications take full advantage of client-side JavaScript to provide better interactivity and responsiveness. If you are building an ASP.NET application in the right way, you quickly end up with lots and lots of JavaScript code. When writing server code, you should be writing… >>> More
Has Javascript developed beyond what it was originally designed to do?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I've been talking with a friend about the purpose of Javascript, when and how it should be used, etc. He quoted that: JavaScript was designed to add interactivity to HTML pages [...] JavaScript gives HTML designers a programming tool HTML authors are normally not programmers… >>> More
PHP, javascript, single quote problems with IE when passing variable from ajax post to javascript fu

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi! I have been trying to get this to work for a while, and I suspect there's an easy solution that I just can't find. My head feels like jelly and I would really appreciate any help. My main page.php makes a .post() to backend.php and fetches a list of cities which it echoes in the form of: <li… >>> More
Javascript in XSL that is loaded by Javascript

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Is there anyway to have javascript run when a XSL sheet has been applied to an XML file by Javascript? I am using a JQuery plugin to apply the sheet to the xml but the javascript that is located inside of the XSL file will not run. I put the Javascript at the bottom of the file and it still does… >>> More

Related posts about contructor

Relvance of 'public' contructor in abstract class.

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Is there any relevance of a 'public' constructor in an abstract class? I can not think of any possible way to use it, in that case shouldn't it be treated as error by compiler (C#, not sure if other languages allow that). Sample Code: internal abstract class Vehicle { public Vehicle() … >>> More
toString method for varargs contructor

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have a varargs contructor like this : public class Sentence { public String[] str; public Sentence(Object... text){ StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); for (Object o : text) { sb.append(o.toString()) .append(" "); } System.out… >>> More
Contructor parameters for dependent classes with Unity Framework

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I just started using the Unity Application Block to try to decouple my classes and make it easier for unit testing. I ran into a problem though that I'm not sure how to get around. Looked through the documentation and did some Googling but I'm coming up dry. Here's the situation: I have a facade-type… >>> More
How to avoid using this in a contructor

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have this situation: interface MessageListener { void onMessageReceipt(Message message); } class MessageReceiver { MessageListener listener; public MessageReceiver(MessageListener listener, other arguments...) { this.listener = listener; } loop() { Message message = nextMessage(); … >>> More
SqlParameter contructor compiler overload choice

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
When creating a SqlParameter (.NET3.5) or OdbcParameter I often use the SqlParameter(string parameterName, Object value) constructor overload to set the value in one statement. When I tried passing a literal 0 as the value paramter I was initially caught by the C# compiler choosing the (string, OdbcType)… >>> More