When your code is written, objects created using new Human() will have the prototype property, the value of which is a reference to the Primate function. This is clearly not what you want (and it is not particularly special).
Few things:
Usually you want to change the prototype function that is intended to be used as a constructor (with the new operator). In other words, you want to set prototype to Human (not to an instance of Human ).
The value you assign to prototype should be an instance of the desired type (or, if you do not need to initialize, the desired prototype type), and not a reference to its constructor.
There is no need to explicitly assign Object (or Object instances) to the prototype function. This is implicit.
You probably want something like this:
function Primate() { this.hairy = true; } function Human() {} Human.prototype = new Primate(); Human.prototype.constructor = Human; var h = new Human();
Human > has a hairy property whose value is true.
In the previous example, hairy assigned its value only once when Primate is called, so a Primate Human.prototype must be assigned to Human.prototype . Instead, it could be written so that such initialization is not required.
Example:
function Primate() {} Primate.prototype.hairy = true; function Human() {} Human.prototype = Primate.prototype; Human.prototype.constructor = Human; var h = new Human();