JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 6th Edition

Object and Array Initializers

Object and array initializers are expressions whose value is a newly created object or array. These initializer expressions are sometimes called “object literals” and “array literals.” Unlike true literals, however, they are not primary expressions, because they include a number of subexpressions that specify property and element values. Array initializers have a slightly simpler syntax, and we’ll begin with those.

An array initializer is a comma-separated list of expressions contained within square brackets. The value of an array initializer is a newly created array. The elements of this new array are initialized to the values of the comma-separated expressions:

[]         // An empty array: no expressions inside brackets means no elements
[1+2,3+4]  // A 2-element array.  First element is 3, second is 7

The element expressions in an array initializer can themselves be array initializers, which means that these expressions can create nested arrays:

var matrix = [[1,2,3], [4,5,6], [7,8,9]];

The element expressions in an array initializer are evaluated each time the array initializer is evaluated. This means that the value of an array initializer expression may be different each time it is evaluated.

Undefined elements can be included in an array literal by simply omitting a value between commas. For example, the following array contains five elements, including three undefined elements:

var sparseArray = [1,,,,5];

A single trailing comma is allowed after the last expression ...