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Memory Efficiency

Drawback of creating true private method

One drawback of creating private method in JavaScript is memory-inefficient because a copy of the private method will be created every time a new instance is created. See this simple example.

function contact(first, last) { this.firstName = first; this.lastName = last; this.mobile;
// private method
var formatPhoneNumber = function(number) { // format phone number based on input
};
// public method
this.setMobileNumber = function(number) { this.mobile = formatPhoneNumber(number);
}; }

When you create few instances, they all have a copy of formatPhoneNumber method

var rob = new contact('Rob', 'Sanderson'); 
var don = new contact('Donald', 'Trump');
var andy = new contact('Andy', 'Whitehall');

Thus, would be great to avoid using private method only if it's necessary.