protected slots on object literals

[ljharb]

Per https://github.com/wycats/javascript-private-state#private-slots-in-object-literals - why wouldn't I be able to do:

var proto = {
  protected #data;
};
var obj = Object.create(proto);
obj.foo = function () { return this.#data; };
obj.foo();

?

In other words, why the requirement for static definition? Does that also mean that there will be no reflective mechanism for defining/adding/removing/iterating/getting/setting data slots?

[allenwb]

No reflection on private/protected slots.

You can imagine making the following work:

var obj = {
   __proto__: proto,
   foo() {return this.#data}
};

It would require carrying extra meta-data as part of the state of proto and would also require dynamic checking of protected slot access in foo methods each time the object literal is evaluated.

I think the case for private slots in object literals is fairly strong. It's less clear for the complication that protected slots would add. The same logic pretty much applies to static private/protected slots.