JavaScript OOP Explained: Prototypes, Classes, and Inheritance Basics

JavaScript implements Object-Oriented Programming through prototypes rather than traditional classes, with ES6 classes serving as cleaner syntax built on top of this prototype system. A prototype is a shared object that stores common methods once, allowing all objects created from the same constructor to reuse them without duplicating memory. JavaScript's prototype chain enables property lookup by traversing linked prototypes until the value is found or null is reached. Core OOP concepts such as inheritance, polymorphism, and abstraction are all achievable in JavaScript using classes and constructor functions. Private fields and methods can be used to implement abstraction by hiding internal implementation details from outside code.