We're not actually at ES5 yet, and to be honest I have not read it completely. I have read ES3 though, and I believe what they call "Classes" are the Array and

We're not actually at ES5 yet, and to be honest I have not read it completely. I have read ES3 though, and I believe what they call "Classes" are the Array and the Number and the Date and the Boolean and most other globals that start with a capital, and you can find out the Class of a value by calling Object.prototype.toString on it. If you believe "Classes" to be these things, then yes, javascript has classes. It does not, however, allow you to create them yourself. For what I have seen from ES5, which is not much, it is pushing Object.create, instead of the new X notation, which you were talking about (as the functions all being classes). According to your definition, things using Object.create are no longer classes, as they do not posess constructor functions (although you could still provide one and make it call Object.create). In this fashion, javascript is moving away from whatever classes it had, and into fully prototype-based inheritance. Whether we think javascript has classes or not is mostly related to your definition of a 'class'. Personally, I think the "Classes" are not actually classes, just names for some native types, and the classes (which are actually classes) javascript does have (using the new X notation) should be abolished as soon as possible, as they look like a confusing attempt to make javascript less confusing for new people coming from Java or C++, by providing them with their familiar concept of classes. They merely guide people away from the powers of prototypical inheritance, instead of driving them closer. By your definition, javascript is full of classes, but most of them are not intended to be classes, and they probably should not have been. (ever tried forgetting new when instantiating a class? that clobbers your global object massively, unless you use a detection-method to prevent it, further explained on the top answer at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/383402/is-javascript-s-new-keyword-considered-harmful http://stackoverflow.com/questions/383402/is-javascript-s-ne... )