What are patterns you could use with prototype inheritance that you cannot with class?

Question

Everyone seems to generally agree that prototype inheritance is simpler and more flexible than class inheritance. What I have not seen in the literature that I\'ve read is very

Answer 1

Ok, I'll add one, use the fact that prototype links are live to monkey-patch methods for a whole class of objects:

var Cat = function(catName) {
    this.catName = catName;
};
Cat.prototype.meow = function() {
    console.log(this.catName+" says meow");
}
var mittens = new Cat("Mittens");
var whiskers = new Cat("Whiskers");
mittens.meow(); // "Mittens says meow"
whiskers.meow(); // "Whiskers says meow"

// All cats are now angry
Cat.prototype.meow = function() {
    console.log(this.catName+" says hissssss");
}
mittens.meow(); // "Mittens says hissssss"
whiskers.meow(); // "Whiskers says hissssss"

This would be useful if you have objects that suddenly need to start acting in a completely different yet consistent manner in response to some sort of global event. Maybe for something like:

• Themes and skinning
• Whether a page is functioning in "online mode" or "offline mode" (while online all queries are stored/retrieved via ajax, while offline queries redirect to browser storage)