fade tonight

I recently asked someone...

If you define an object with const, will you still be able to update its properties?

In Javascript, if you define an object with const, you will still be able update its properties.

Let's say you intend to have an enum of form states.

In code, you will probably write:

const FormStates = {
  LOADING: 'loading',
  SUCCESS: 'success',
  ERROR: 'error',
};

Writing in const only means you prevent re-assignment. So the FormStates on the example cannot be reassigned to let's say FormStates = ['loading', 'success', 'error']. It will throw an error Assignment to constant variable.. But its properties can still be changed.

FormStates.ERROR = 0;

or...

FormStates.COMPLETE = 'complete';

FormStates; // { LOADING: 'loading', SUCCESS: 'success', ERROR: 0, COMPLETE: 'complete' }

So if your intention is to actually have identifiers that behave as constant and prevent new properties from being added or updated, use Object.freeze().

const FormStates = {
  LOADING: 'loading',
  SUCCESS: 'success',
  ERROR: 'error',
};

Object.freeze(FormStates);

FormStates.ERROR = 0;
FormStates.COMPLETE = 'complete';

FormStates; // { LOADING: 'loading', SUCCESS: 'success', ERROR: 'error' }

The Object.freeze() method freezes an object. A frozen object can no longer be changed. More details at MDN.

freeze() returns the same object that was passed in.

So the example can also be written as follows and still get the same result.

const FormStates = Object.freeze({
  LOADING: 'loading',
  SUCCESS: 'success',
  ERROR: 'error',
});

FormStates; // { LOADING: 'loading', SUCCESS: 'success', ERROR: 'error' }

So if the properties of an object that is defined in const can still be updated, how do you declare actual constants?