Both Maps and Objects are primarily used to store data, but they do have some key differences in their use cases and structure. These are listed below :
Key and Value :
In maps, it is very easy to access keys and the values associated with them.
For example,
But on the other hand, in objects, the process is a little long,
Also, the Key type in objects is always a string. But in Maps we can have all sorts of key types.
Order of Keys and Values:
Object: The order of key-value pairs in objects is not preserved.
Maps: In Maps, the order of key-value pairs is preserved. If we will iterate through it, it will return the key and value in the same order in which they were entered.
Size:
Object: Objects do not have a built-in property to get their size (number of properties). We need to manually count the properties using loops or other methods.
Map: Maps have a 'size' property that allows us to easily determine the number of key-value pairs they contain.
In summary, while both objects and maps are used for storing collections of data in JavaScript, maps offer more flexibility, maintain key order, and provide built-in methods for iteration and size retrieval, making them a better choice in many scenarios.