objectParser.js

function buildObject(str) {
	var newObj = {};
	var newKey, newVal;
	var elstart = 1;
	var elend = 1;
	var contentsStr = str.substring(1,str.length-1);
	contentsStr = contentsStr.trim();
	var contentsLength = contentsStr.length;
	
	if (contentsLength === 0) {
		console.log('broke out');
		return newObj;
	}
	for (var i = 0; i < str.length; i++) {
		if (str[i] === ':') {
			elend = i;
			if (elend - elstart > 0) {
				newKey = str.substring(elstart,elend).trim();
		        newKey = returnTerminalDatatype(newKey);
			}
			elstart = i+1;
		}
		if (str[i] === '}' || str[i] === ',') {
			elend = i;
			if (elend - elstart > 0) {
				newVal = str.substring(elstart,elend).trim();
				newVal = parse(newVal);  //parse is a helper function
			}
			elstart = i+1;
		}
          newObj[newKey] = newVal;  
	}
	return newObj;
}
buildObject("{ a:1, b:'hello'}");  // returns {a: 1, b: "hi", undefined: undefined}