Why doesn't ko.observableArray.length return length of underlying array?

Question

Using Knockout, when working with an observableArray, you must grab the underlying array (myArray()) in order to read the length. I don't understand why myArray.length wouldn't return the underlying array's length (instead it returns 0). Is this a bug or is there reason which I've simply missed?

JSFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/jsm11482/LJVWE/

JS/Model

var data = {
    name: ko.observable("Test"),
    items: ko.observableArray([
        { name: ko.observable("First Thing"), value: ko.observable(1) },
        { name: ko.observable("Second Thing"), value: ko.observable(2) },
        { name: ko.observable("Third Thing"), value: ko.observable(3) }
    ])
};

ko.applyBindings(data, document.getElementsByTagName("div")[0]);

HTML

<div>
    <h1 data-bind="text: name"></h1>
    <ul data-bind="foreach: items">
        <li data-bind="text: value() + ': ' + name()"></li>
    </ul>

    <div>
        <strong>data.items.length == </strong>

        <!-- Expecting 3, get 0. -->
        <span data-bind="text: items.length"></span>
    </div>
    <div>
        <strong>data.items().length == </strong>

        <!-- Expecting 3, get 3. -->
        <span data-bind="text: items().length"></span>
    </div>
</div>

Answer 1

This is because the plain items observable is in fact a Function, which has its own length property to indicate the number of arguments expected.

From MDN's page on Functions (properties section):

length
Specifies the number of arguments expected by the function.

As a developer using the KnockoutJS library I'd also initially expect the length of an observableArray to be the length of the underlying array, but I do appreciate the KO library not overriding this Function property though, as that would probably cause other unwanted side-effects.