What is the difference between javascript property and javascript variable?

= is for object property or global/local variable assignment. : is only for property assignment at object definition.

Also: You can delete a property. You cannot delete a variable.

var obj = {
  p1: 'im p1',
  p2: 2
};
obj.p1 = 'im updated p1'; // assign a new value to object property
var v = 'just a var'; // is global outside a function and local inside a function

delete obj.p1; // is ok
delete v; // is not ok

The ':' is used in an object way to assign a key to a value as a key/value pair. The '=' is an assignment operator. It assigns a variable to a value.

Yes a variable can have properties because a variable can be assigned an object.

A property is usually associated with a javascript object.

var obj = {
  name: 'test', --> property
  getName: function(){ --> property
    return this.name
  }
};

In contrary variables are used inside functions and even outside of them.

var global = "string"; --> variable
function test(){
  var local = "string"; --> variable
}

But the underlying idea of both the property and a variable remains the same, which is to either store or point to an object in memory.

• ':' is used whenever you want to associate a attribute to an object.

• '=' is used whenever you want to store the actual data or a reference in memory