While writing the article, Implementing "Real" Classes in JavaScript for Developer.com, I was tempted to add a sidebar with the provocative title "Do Objects Have Souls?".  The article itself demonstrated a technique for simulating Java-like classes in JavaScript, and as introductory material, it explained the difference between Java's "class"-based semantics versus JavaScript's "object prototype"-based semantics.

For Java programmers: In a nutshell, Java creates object instances that have all, and only, the properties of its Class, and the property list is fixed over the life of the object. In JavaScript, object instances have no "real" class, however, each object is free to add and delete properties at any time.  Because of this, JavaScript Object objects are pretty empty compared to Java Object objects at birth because they can become anything after they have already been instantiated [hence Existential Programming!].

In trying to understand the language differences myself, I began musing on the parallels between philosophical notions of "the soul" and JavaScript's empty shell of an "object" that is generated by obj = new Object;

Souls as property containers

In western philosophy there has been a 2500 year old school of thought that "things" (aka objects) have properties, some of which can never change (i.e. essential properties) versus those which may change over time (i.e. accidental properties).  One concept of "soul" is that it is the bundle of essential properties that constitute a thing.  This idea has also been equated with "identity".  Attached (non-permanently) to the attribute bundle are the various accidental properties.  This sounds a lot like the "empty" JavaScript object which is ready to add and update and delete [accidental] properties, while all the time keeping constant the essential, unchanging, object identity (as referenced by obj !).

When medieval alchemists distilled liquids into their essences they called them spirits because they were the "soul" of the grape, herb, flower, etc. To insure removing all of the accidental properties, they distilled things 5 times to produce the quintessential spirit.  Distilled spirits in the alcohol sense often have names that reflect the notion that they have a life essence captured in them. Whiskey and Aquavit are both names that translate into "water of life" in their original languages.  In the movie Perfume, a villain repeatedly attempts to distill the essence of pretty women using the same techniques as distilling flowers into perfume. [Spoiler Alert: flowers don't survive the process...]

When the Well of Souls runs out of RAM

Another aspect of souls that rhymes with JavaScript is the ancient lore that newborns are given a soul at birth which is plucked from a "well of souls" (aka the chamber of Guf).  In JavaScript, as empty objects are created and given an identity, they are plucked from a heap of available memory (i.e. dynamic memory allocation). In both cases, bad things happen when there are none left.

When the well of souls runs dry, the Messiah will come and reboot the world; when your browser runs out of heap space, your JavaScript will gag and someone will have to come and reboot the browser (or at least the web page).  The plot of the 1988 Demi Moore film, The Seventh Sign, is based on the Guf mythology. Demi's baby is due to be born on February 29 which is the date on which the last soul will leave the Guf and it will be empty.

The popular phrase "I'm just saying" has been around long enough for most people to have heard it, but not long enough for it to be well-documented as to where it originated.  I heard a great stand up comic bit about it in the 1980's by Paul Reiser. There are several blog sites that muse over its origin and solicit theories:

• http://prestwickhouse.blogspot.com/2010/01/plain-english-im-just-sayin.html
• http://painintheenglish.com/?p=958
• http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=i%27m%20just%20sayin%27

It turns out that the most common definition of the phrase exhibits a logical paradox from Philosophy.  The book "this sentence is false" is a collection of philosophical paradoxes, and it describes Moore's Paradox (as developed by G.E. Moore).  I summarize it as follows:

Normally, everything that can be said about the world can be said by anyone. I can say the moon is made of green cheese, and you can say it.  The state of the world described by me can equally be described by you with no logical paradox...EXCEPT... I can say that the moon is made of green cheese, and I can say that you do not believe that the moon is made of green cheese, but YOU can not say the same thing.  I.E. you can not say that X is true and at the same time say that you do not believe that X is true.  Note that you are not saying that you could be wrong in your belief, you are saying that you both, believe X is true, and X is not true, at the same time. A logical contradiction.

However, whenever you use the phrase "I'm just saying!", you are in effect performing Moore's paradox.

While writing the article, Implementing "Real" Classes in JavaScript for Developer.com, I was tempted to add a sidebar with the provocative title "Do Objects Have Souls?".  The article itself demonstrated a technique for simulating Java-like classes in JavaScript, and as introductory material, it explained the difference between Java's "class"-based semantics versus JavaScript's "object prototype"-based semantics. In trying to understand the differences myself, I began musing on the parallels between philosophical notions of "the soul" and JavaScript's empty shell of an "object" that is generated by obj = new Object;

Souls as property containers

In western philosophy there has been a 2500 year old school of thought that "things" (aka objects) have properties, some of which can never change (i.e. essential properties) versus those which may change over time (i.e. accidental properties).  One concept of "soul" is that it is the bundle of essential properties that constitute a thing.  This idea has also been equated with "identity".  Attached (non-permanently) to the attribute bundle are the various accidental properties.  This sounds a lot like the "empty" JavaScript object which is ready to add and update and delete [accidental] properties, while all the time keeping constant the essential, unchanging, object identity (as referenced by obj !).

When medieval alchemists distilled liquids into their essences they called them spirits because they were the "soul" of the grape, herb, flower, etc. To insure removing all of the accidental properties, they distilled things 5 times to produce the quintessential spirit.  Distilled spirits in the alcohol sense often have names that reflect the notion that they have a life essence captured in them. Whiskey and Aquavit are both names that translate into "water of life" in their original languages.  In the movie Perfume, a villain repeatedly attempts to distill the essence of pretty women using the same techniques as distilling flowers into perfume. [Spoiler Alert: flowers don't survive the process...]

When the Well of Souls runs out of RAM

Another aspect of souls that rhymes with JavaScript is the ancient lore that newborns are given a soul at birth which is plucked from a "well of souls" (aka the chamber of Guf).  In JavaScript, as empty objects are created and given an identity, they are plucked from a heap of available memory (i.e. dynamic memory allocation). In both cases, bad things happen when there are none left.

When the well of souls runs dry, the Messiah will come and reboot the world; when your browser runs out of heap space, your JavaScript will gag and someone will have to come and reboot the browser (or at least the web page).  The plot of the 1988 Demi Moore film, The Seventh Sign, is based on the Guf mythology. Demi's baby is due to be born on February 29 which is the date on which the last soul will leave the Guf and it will be empty.