Stringify Anything: JavaScript Conversion Challenge

This challenge focuses on creating a versatile function that can convert any JavaScript value – primitives, objects, arrays – into its string representation. This is a fundamental skill in JavaScript, crucial for tasks like logging, debugging, and constructing dynamic content. Your goal is to build a robust stringify function that handles various data types gracefully.

Problem Description

You are tasked with creating a JavaScript function called stringify that takes a single argument value and returns its string representation. The function should handle the following data types correctly:

• Primitives: Numbers, strings, booleans, null, and undefined.
• Arrays: Convert arrays to strings with elements separated by commas.
• Objects: Convert objects to strings with key-value pairs separated by commas, and keys and values enclosed in quotes. The order of keys in the object is not guaranteed.
• Functions: Return the string "function" for function values.
• Dates: Convert dates to their ISO string representation (e.g., "2023-10-27T10:00:00.000Z").
• Regular Expressions: Convert regular expressions to their string representation using the toString() method.

The function should handle nested objects and arrays recursively.

Expected Behavior:

The function should return a string that accurately represents the input value. The string representation should be suitable for debugging or logging purposes.

Edge Cases to Consider:

• null should be converted to the string "null".
• undefined should be converted to the string "undefined".
• Circular references in objects or arrays should be handled gracefully (e.g., by returning a string like "[Circular]" to avoid infinite recursion). You don't need to implement a full circular reference detection algorithm, a simple check for repeated values is sufficient.
• Very large objects or arrays might impact performance. While optimization is not the primary focus, avoid excessively inefficient approaches.

Examples

Example 1:

Input: 123
Output: "123"
Explanation: A simple number is converted to its string equivalent.

Example 2:

Input: [1, "hello", true, null]
Output: "1,hello,true,null"
Explanation: An array is converted to a comma-separated string of its elements.

Example 3:

Input: { name: "John", age: 30, city: "New York" }
Output: '"John","30","New York"'  (Order may vary)
Explanation: An object is converted to a comma-separated string of key-value pairs, with keys and values quoted.

Example 4:

Input: function() { return "hello"; }
Output: "function"
Explanation: Functions are represented as the string "function".

Example 5:

Input: new Date()
Output: "2023-10-27T10:00:00.000Z" (or similar ISO string)
Explanation: Dates are converted to their ISO string representation.

Example 6:

Input: /abc/g
Output: "/abc/g"
Explanation: Regular expressions are converted to their string representation.

Example 7:

Input: { a: 1, b: { c: 2, d: { e: 3 } } }
Output: '"1","2","3"' (Order may vary)
Explanation: Nested objects are handled recursively.

Constraints

• The input value can be any valid JavaScript value.
• The function must return a string.
• The function should handle circular references by returning "[Circular]" when detected.
• The function should not throw errors for any valid JavaScript input.
• Performance should be reasonable for typical JavaScript data structures. Avoid excessive memory usage or recursion depth.

Notes

• Consider using recursion to handle nested objects and arrays.
• The JSON.stringify() method is not allowed for this challenge. The goal is to implement the stringification logic yourself.
• Pay close attention to how different data types are represented as strings.
• Think about how to handle circular references to prevent infinite loops. A simple check for repeated values during recursion is sufficient.
• The order of keys in objects is not guaranteed, so your output string for objects may vary in key order.