goog.typeOf = function()

in asdoc/library/closure/goog/base.js [1266:1356]


goog.typeOf = function(value) {
  var s = typeof value;
  if (s == 'object') {
    if (value) {
      // Check these first, so we can avoid calling Object.prototype.toString if
      // possible.
      //
      // IE improperly marshals typeof across execution contexts, but a
      // cross-context object will still return false for "instanceof Object".
      if (value instanceof Array) {
        return 'array';
      } else if (value instanceof Object) {
        return s;
      }

      // HACK: In order to use an Object prototype method on the arbitrary
      //   value, the compiler requires the value be cast to type Object,
      //   even though the ECMA spec explicitly allows it.
      var className = Object.prototype.toString.call(
          /** @type {!Object} */ (value));
      // In Firefox 3.6, attempting to access iframe window objects' length
      // property throws an NS_ERROR_FAILURE, so we need to special-case it
      // here.
      if (className == '[object Window]') {
        return 'object';
      }

      // We cannot always use constructor == Array or instanceof Array because
      // different frames have different Array objects. In IE6, if the iframe
      // where the array was created is destroyed, the array loses its
      // prototype. Then dereferencing val.splice here throws an exception, so
      // we can't use goog.isFunction. Calling typeof directly returns 'unknown'
      // so that will work. In this case, this function will return false and
      // most array functions will still work because the array is still
      // array-like (supports length and []) even though it has lost its
      // prototype.
      // Mark Miller noticed that Object.prototype.toString
      // allows access to the unforgeable [[Class]] property.
      //  15.2.4.2 Object.prototype.toString ( )
      //  When the toString method is called, the following steps are taken:
      //      1. Get the [[Class]] property of this object.
      //      2. Compute a string value by concatenating the three strings
      //         "[object ", Result(1), and "]".
      //      3. Return Result(2).
      // and this behavior survives the destruction of the execution context.
      if ((className == '[object Array]' ||
           // In IE all non value types are wrapped as objects across window
           // boundaries (not iframe though) so we have to do object detection
           // for this edge case.
           typeof value.length == 'number' &&
               typeof value.splice != 'undefined' &&
               typeof value.propertyIsEnumerable != 'undefined' &&
               !value.propertyIsEnumerable('splice')

               )) {
        return 'array';
      }
      // HACK: There is still an array case that fails.
      //     function ArrayImpostor() {}
      //     ArrayImpostor.prototype = [];
      //     var impostor = new ArrayImpostor;
      // this can be fixed by getting rid of the fast path
      // (value instanceof Array) and solely relying on
      // (value && Object.prototype.toString.vall(value) === '[object Array]')
      // but that would require many more function calls and is not warranted
      // unless closure code is receiving objects from untrusted sources.

      // IE in cross-window calls does not correctly marshal the function type
      // (it appears just as an object) so we cannot use just typeof val ==
      // 'function'. However, if the object has a call property, it is a
      // function.
      if ((className == '[object Function]' ||
           typeof value.call != 'undefined' &&
               typeof value.propertyIsEnumerable != 'undefined' &&
               !value.propertyIsEnumerable('call'))) {
        return 'function';
      }

    } else {
      return 'null';
    }

  } else if (s == 'function' && typeof value.call == 'undefined') {
    // In Safari typeof nodeList returns 'function', and on Firefox typeof
    // behaves similarly for HTML{Applet,Embed,Object}, Elements and RegExps. We
    // would like to return object for those and we can detect an invalid
    // function by making sure that the function object has a call method.
    return 'object';
  }
  return s;
};