objectParser2.js

function buildObject(str) {
    var newObj = {};
    var contents = str.substring(1, str.length-1).split(",");
    if (!contents[0]) return newObj;
    
    contents.forEach(function(keyValuePair) {
        var keyAndValue = keyValuePair.split(":");
        var key = keyAndValue[0];
        var value = keyAndValue[1];
        newObj[key] = parse(value); // parse is a helper function
    });
    return newObj;
}
buildObject('{a:1, b:"hi"}'); // returns {a:1, b:"hi"}