Literalobjects

Literalobjects is a term used to describe values that are created directly from literal syntax in programming languages that support object literals. The concept covers object literals (maps of key-value pairs) and can include nested structures and array literals. Literalobjects are typically contrasted with objects constructed via constructors, factories, or deserialization, since they are written explicitly in source code.

In practice, literalobjects are used to represent simple, self-contained data structures with minimal ceremony. They enable concise configuration, fixtures for testing, and straightforward data transfer within a program. In JavaScript, for example, an object literal such as { name: "Alice", age: 30, address: { city: "Paris" } } creates a new object directly from source code. Arrays can appear as [1, 2, 3], and these literals may be nested to form complex data graphs. JSON, which uses a similar syntax, represents literalobjects as textual data for transmission and storage, while remaining a data format rather than a full programming language.

Across languages, literalobjects often align with dictionaries, maps, or hashes in other ecosystems. They offer readability and brevity but may lack inherent type information in dynamically typed languages. Some environments provide features to freeze or make literals immutable, improving safety and optimization. Hyper-focused on simplicity, literalobjects remain a fundamental tool for representing structured data in code and data interchange.

See also: object literal, JSON, dictionary, map, data literal.