Eu encontrei essa discussão porque precisava de uma maneira de comparar profundamente arrays e objetos. Usando os exemplos aqui, eu vim com o seguinte (dividido em 3 métodos para maior clareza):
jQuery.extend({
compare : function (a,b) {
var obj_str = '[object Object]',
arr_str = '[object Array]',
a_type = Object.prototype.toString.apply(a),
b_type = Object.prototype.toString.apply(b);
if ( a_type !== b_type) { return false; }
else if (a_type === obj_str) {
return $.compareObject(a,b);
}
else if (a_type === arr_str) {
return $.compareArray(a,b);
}
return (a === b);
}
});
jQuery.extend({
compareArray: function (arrayA, arrayB) {
var a,b,i,a_type,b_type;
// References to each other?
if (arrayA === arrayB) { return true;}
if (arrayA.length != arrayB.length) { return false; }
// sort modifies original array
// (which are passed by reference to our method!)
// so clone the arrays before sorting
a = jQuery.extend(true, [], arrayA);
b = jQuery.extend(true, [], arrayB);
a.sort();
b.sort();
for (i = 0, l = a.length; i < l; i+=1) {
a_type = Object.prototype.toString.apply(a[i]);
b_type = Object.prototype.toString.apply(b[i]);
if (a_type !== b_type) {
return false;
}
if ($.compare(a[i],b[i]) === false) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
});
jQuery.extend({
compareObject : function(objA,objB) {
var i,a_type,b_type;
// Compare if they are references to each other
if (objA === objB) { return true;}
if (Object.keys(objA).length !== Object.keys(objB).length) { return false;}
for (i in objA) {
if (objA.hasOwnProperty(i)) {
if (typeof objB[i] === 'undefined') {
return false;
}
else {
a_type = Object.prototype.toString.apply(objA[i]);
b_type = Object.prototype.toString.apply(objB[i]);
if (a_type !== b_type) {
return false;
}
}
}
if ($.compare(objA[i],objB[i]) === false){
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
});
Testando
var a={a : {a : 1, b: 2}},
b={a : {a : 1, b: 2}},
c={a : {a : 1, b: 3}},
d=[1,2,3],
e=[2,1,3];
console.debug('a and b = ' + $.compare(a,b)); // a and b = true
console.debug('b and b = ' + $.compare(b,b)); // b and b = true
console.debug('b and c = ' + $.compare(b,c)); // b and c = false
console.debug('c and d = ' + $.compare(c,d)); // c and d = false
console.debug('d and e = ' + $.compare(d,e)); // d and e = true
[0,1] == {0:0,1:1,length=2}