JavaScript Variables vs Properties

Question

In JavaScript a global variable is also a property of the window object. What about local variables? Are they the property of any object?

For example:

var apple=3;
alert(apple);                   //  3
alert(window.apple);            //  same

thing();

function thing() {
    var banana=4;
    alert(banana);              //  4
    alert(thing.banana);        //  doesn’t work, of course
}

Is banana a property of any object

Answer 1

What about local variables? Are they the property of any object?

No. When execution enters a function, a new declarative environment record is created for storing the identifiers.

Unlike object environment records (used for creating the global and with environments) there is no user space object to which the variables are mapped.

See also What really is a declarative environment record and how does it differ from an activation object?

Answer 2

But you can still store stuff inside function object. This way you can have something called static variable in languages like C/C++. For example:

function thing() {
    thing.banana = (thing.banana + 1) || 1;
    alert('This function was ran '+ thing.banana + ' times.');
}

thing(); // alerts "This function was ran 1 times"
thing(); // alerts "This function was ran 2 times"
thing(); // alerts "This function was ran 3 times"
thing(); // alerts "This function was ran 4 times"
thing(); // alerts "This function was ran 5 times"
alert(thing.banana) // alerts 5