Introducing ES6 Class Syntax

JavaScript ES6 introduced a new syntax for defining classes that mimics the traditional class-based languages without changing its inherent prototype-based behaviour. In ES6, the syntax for defining a class is: class MyClass {}.

Understanding ES6 Class Syntax

The declaration begins with the keyword class, followed by the name of the class which is MyClass in this instance, and the code body inside the curly braces {}.

Here's an example of a basic class definition:

class MyClass {
  // class methods and constructor
}

It's important to note, however, that this is just syntactic sugar over JavaScript's existing prototype-based inheritance. The class syntax doesn't introduce a new object-oriented inheritance model to JavaScript.

Practical Applications of ES6 Class Syntax

Classes are a great way of defining constructors and encapsulating related functionality. They can contain constructor functions, getters and setters, and any other method related to the class.

Here's an example of a class with a constructor function and a method:

class Car {
  constructor(brand) {
    this.carname = brand;
  }
  present() {
    return 'I have a ' + this.carname;
  }
}

let myCar = new Car("Toyota");
console.log(myCar.present()); // Outputs "I have a Toyota"

In this example, Car is a class and we use the new keyword to instantiate a new object (myCar) based off this class.

Best Practices and Insights

When using ES6 classes, it's important to be mindful of some of the following best practices and insights:

1. Always use the class keyword to create a class. Attempting to invoke a Class as a function (without new) will throw an error.

2. Make sure to use the new keyword when creating a new instance of the class.

3. In a constructor, use the this keyword to reference the instance of the class and to store properties.

4. Class declarations are not hoisted unlike function declarations. Therefore, you should first declare your class and then access it, otherwise the code will throw an error.

ES6 classes provide a clean, elegant syntax to organize and structure your JavaScript code. They allow you to adhere to Object Oriented Practices, enhancing code readability and maintainability.