Subj : Re: Strange Rhino NativeString behavior
To   : netscape.public.mozilla.jseng
From : Matt McShane
Date : Sun Oct 24 2004 08:20 pm

Igor Bukanov wrote:
  > You hit here JavaScript discrepancy about primitive type != object.
> ECMAScript standard effectively states that x.y should be implemented 
> via converting x to object and then accessing its properties. If x is 
> string, it is converted using new String(x) so your last example is 
> equivalent to:
> 
> var msg = "Hello, world."
> (new String(msg)).someAttribute = "xyz"
> (new String(msg)).myFunc() //prints o.m.j.UniqueTag@1027b4d: NOT_FOUND
> 
> Thus any property assignment to primitive string is useless operation 
> since the temporary created String object will be lost.
> 
> Regards, Igor
> 
> 

Thank you, Igor, that certainly explains things. And here I didn't even 
know ECMAScript had primitives. Although I have to ask, /why/ does a 
scripting lanugage need primitives?

.