When to use the word "prototype" in adding new properties to an object in javascript?

Question

I don't understand in JavaScript when to use the word "prototype" vs. using simple "dot" notation without the word "prototype". Can someone look at these code blocks and help me understand when you'd want to use one over the other?

with "prototype":

function employee(name,jobtitle)
{
  this.name=name;
  this.jobtitle=jobtitle;
}

var fred=new employee("Fred Flintstone","Caveman");
employee.prototype.salary=null;
fred.salary=20000;
console.log(fred.salary);

without "prototype":

function employee(name,jobtitle,salary)
{
  this.name=name;
  this.jobtitle=jobtitle;
  this.salary=salary;
}

var fred=new employee("Fred Flintstone","Caveman", 20000);
console.log(fred.salary);

Answer 1

JavaScript objects have a property which is a pointer to another object. This pointer is the object's prototype. Object instances by default share the same prototype:

function Employee(name){
  this.name = name;
}

Employee.prototype.company = "IBM";

Employee.prototype.who = function(){
  console.log("My name is", this.name, "I work for", this.company);
}

var bob = new Employee('Bob');
var jim = new Employee('Jim');

// bob and jim are seperate objects, but each is linked to the same 'prototype' object.

jim.who(); // jim doesn't have a property called 'who', so it falls back to it's 'prototype', where who exists
// My name is Jim I work for IBM

bob.who();
// My name is Bob I work for IBM

// Bob leaves IBM for Microsoft
bob.company = "Microsoft"; // bob now has a property called 'company'. The value of which is 'Microsoft', which overrides bob's prototype property of the same name.

bob.who();
// My name is Bob I work for Microsoft

Employee.prototype.company = 'Facebook';

jim.who(); 
// My name is Jim I work for Facebook

bob.who(); // Bob is not affected by the change.
// My name is Bob I work for Microsoft

delete bob.company;

bob.who(); // bob no longer has it's own property 'company', so like jim, it drops down to the prototype object.
// My name is Bob I work for Facebook