Design Elements - V8 JavaScript Engine - Google Code: "To reduce the time required to access JavaScript properties, V8 does not use dynamic lookup to access properties. Instead, V8 dynamically creates hidden classes behind the scenes. This basic idea is not new - the prototype-based programming language Self used maps to do something similar. (See for example, An Efficient Implementation of Self, a Dynamically-Typed Object-Oriented Language Based on Prototypes). In V8, an object changes its hidden class when a new property is added."
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