Private properties in JavaScript ES6 classes

Question

Is it possible to create private properties in ES6 classes?

Here's an example. How can I prevent access to instance.property?

class Something {
  constructor(){
    this.property = "test";
  }
}

var instance = new Something();
console.log(instance.property); //=> "test"

Answer 1

Short answer, no, there is no native support for private properties with ES6 classes.

But you could mimic that behaviour by not attaching the new properties to the object, but keeping them inside a class constructor, and use getters and setters to reach the hidden properties. Note that the getters and setters gets redefine on each new instance of the class.

ES6

class Person {
    constructor(name) {
        var _name = name
        this.setName = function(name) { _name = name; }
        this.getName = function() { return _name; }
    }
}

ES5

function Person(name) {
    var _name = name
    this.setName = function(name) { _name = name; }
    this.getName = function() { return _name; }
}