10 Popular JavaScript methods implemented from scratch

Introduction

In this article I wanted to share with you with the most popular JavaScript methods but implemented by scratch.
A little understanding of how JavaScript methods works inside will always help you as a developer.
So these are the most popular methods in JavaScript implemented from scratch. Check this out if you are interested how JavaScript methods works inside. This is also a light version of how this work, the real method specified in ECMAScript is much more complex.

Methods mentioned on this article are:

map, reduce, filter, sort, every, includes, slice, splice, shift, indexOf.

1. map()

const fakeMap = function (callback) {
  const newArray = [];

  // 'this' refers to the array
  for (let i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
    newArray[i] = callback(this[i], i);
  }

  return newArray;
};
Array.prototype.fakeMap = fakeMap;

[1, 2, 3].fakeMap((n) => n + 1); // output [2, 3, 4]

2. reduce()

const fakeReduce = function (callback, accumulator) {
  for (let i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
    accumulator = callback(accumulator, this[i]);
  }
  return accumulator;
};
Array.prototype.fakeReduce = fakeReduce;

const reducer = (previousValue, currentValue) => previousValue + currentValue;

[1, 2, 3].fakeReduce(reducer, 0); // output 6

3. filter()

const fakeFilter = function (callback) {
  const newArray = [];

  for (let i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
    if (callback(this[i])) {
      newArray.push(this[i]);
    }
  }

  return newArray;
};

Array.prototype.fakeFilter = fakeFilter;

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].fakeFilter((n) => n > 2); // output [3, 4, 5]

4. sort()

const fakeSort = function (callback) {
  const newArray = [...this];

  for (let i = 0; i < newArray.length; i++) {
    for (let j = 0; j < newArray.length - 1; j++) {
      if (callback(newArray[j], newArray[j + 1]) > 0) {
        const temp = newArray[j + 1];
        newArray[j + 1] = newArray[j];
        newArray[j] = temp;
      }
    }
  }

  // array is sorted
  return newArray;
};

Array.prototype.fakeSort = fakeSort;

[3, 5, 1, 4, 2].fakeSort((a, b) => a - b); // output [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

5. every()

const fakeEvery = function (callback) {
  for (let i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
    if (!callback(this[i])) {
      return false;
    }
  }

  return true;
};

Array.prototype.fakeEvery = fakeEvery;

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].fakeEvery((n) => n > 3); // output false

6. includes()

const fakeIncludes = function (item) {
  for (let i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
    if (this[i] === item) {
      return true;
    }
  }

  return false;
};

Array.prototype.fakeIncludes = fakeIncludes;

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].fakeIncludes(5); // output true

7. slice()

const fakeSlice = function (start, end) {
  let newArray = [];
  if (!end) {
    for (let i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
      if (i >= start) {
        newArray.push(this[i]);
      }
    }

    return newArray;
  }

  for (let i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
    if (i >= start && i <= end) {
      newArray.push(this[i]);
    }
  }
  return newArray;
};

Array.prototype.fakeSlice = fakeSlice;

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].fakeSlice(2, 3); // output [3, 4]

8. splice()

const fakeSplice = function (start, deleteCount, ...items) {
  let newArray = [];

  // if we only provide start fakeSplice(start)
  if (!deleteCount) {
    for (let i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
      if (i < start) {
        newArray.push(this[i]);
      }
    }
    this.length = 0;
    this.push.apply(this, newArray);
    return;
  }

  // if we only provide start and deleteCount fakeSplice(start, deleteCount)
  if (!items) {
    for (let i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
      if (i < start || i >= start + deleteCount) {
        newArray.push(this[i]);
      }
    }

    this.length = 0;
    this.push.apply(this, newArray);
    return;
  }

  // if we provide all arguments to the function
  for (let i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
    if (i === start + deleteCount) {
      newArray = [...newArray, ...items];
    }
    if (i < start || i >= start + deleteCount) {
      newArray.push(this[i]);
    }
  }

  this.length = 0;
  this.push.apply(this, newArray);
  return;
};

Array.prototype.fakeSplice = fakeSplice;

const planets = [
  "Mercury",
  "Venus",
  "Earth",
  "Mars",
  "Jupiter",
  "Saturn",
  "Uranus",
  "Neptune",
];
planets.fakeSplice(2, 2, "Pluto");
console.log(planets); // output ["Mercury", "Venus", "Pluto", "Jupiter", "Saturn", "Uranus", "Neptune"]

9. shift()

const fakeShift = function () {
  let newArray = [];

  for (let i = 1; i < this.length; i++) {
    newArray.push(this[i]);
  }

  this.length = 0;
  this.push.apply(this, newArray);
};

Array.prototype.fakeShift = fakeShift;
const arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];

arr.fakeShift();
console.log(arr); // output [2, 3, 4, 5]

10. indexOf()

const fakeIndexOf = function (item) {
  for (let i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
    if (item === this[i]) {
      return i;
    }
  }
  return -1;
};

Array.prototype.fakeIndexOf = fakeIndexOf;

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5].fakeIndexOf(4); // output 3

Conclusion

We just implemented the most used methods in JavaScript and get a better understanding of how they work so we can use them more effectively.

Thank you for your time!

Comments

[Artem Verbitski]

Yes, I totally agree with you.
You don't have to know how car engine works inside to drive a car, what I meant was
knowing how car engine works, makes you a better understanding of a car itself.

And you may be surprised but assembly language is still in use, so knowing such stuff definitely makes you a better dev 😜.

Cheers!

[Anton Golub]

sort should work in place:

10. Repeat, while j < itemCount,
a. Perform ? Set(obj, ! ToString(𝔽(j)), items[j], true).
b. Set j to j + 1.

tc39.es/ecma262/#sec-array.prototy...
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/W...

[Artem Verbitski]

Hi!
These are only a light versions of popular methods in JS, and of course the original methods mentioned in ECMAScript are much more complex and useful.
Thank you for comment :)

[Artem Verbitski]

These are only a light versions of "the engine". So we won't get a full understanding of it, but a light one.

For those who want to familiarize with the internals of JS methods e.g. Array.prototype.map you can find this information here: developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/W...

Thanks 😀

[lepinekong]

I don't say ALL integration work are lame, I say that there are integration work that are lame that's why they are automatable why do you think lowcode/nocode are now rising and usable by just business people ;) dev.to/lepinekong/comment/1l7ab

[lepinekong]

It's not the same thing as rebuilding a car engine, but it shows he knows javascript and datastructure. Sometimes you need an original algorithm if you software is a bit innovative, if you just do lame integration work then it's ok you don't need to understand much.

[Big-Logic]

Nice. Fundamentals are worth knowing. Developers are like engineers who build engines, so if you don’t understand how a single part of the engine you want to build works, than you are going to be some kind of mere dev because trial and error are what you are going to be on all times.

[Prabhu]

Useful

[Oskar Codes]

Good article, but you forgot to include the return -1 for .indexOf

[Artem Verbitski]

Thanks for noticing! I made an update.

[Yamiteru]

Are these implementations faster than native ones?

[lepinekong]

I do SystemThinking : things are not separate ;) If I recruit a coder I will indeed want to be sure he master the fundamentals if not I would rather recruit the guy/girl for doing lowcode or nocode.