Question

What is the purpose of the 'this' keyword?

a) To refer to another object
b) To invoke other constructors
c) To send a message to another object
d) To refer to the current object

Answer 1

The 'this' keyword is used to refer to the current object within its own scope, particularly within its methods in an OOP context.

Step-by-step explanation:

The 'this' keyword serves a specific role in many programming languages, particularly in object-oriented programming (OOP). The correct answer to the student's question is (d) To refer to the current object. When a method is invoked, 'this' is a reference to the object for which the method was called, allowing access to the object's properties and methods from within its own methods.

For example, if you have a class for a 'Car' and within it, a method to return the car's information, you might use 'this' to refer to the individual Car object:

class Car {
constructor(model, year) {
this.model = model;
this.year = year;
}

displayInfo() {
return 'Model: ' + this.model + ', Year: ' + this.year;
}
}

Here, 'this.model' and 'this.year' refer to the properties of the specific Car object you are dealing with when the method is called.