Any way to extend javascript's array.sort() method to accept another parameter?

Write a function generator that accepts a property name:

function propComparator(prop) {
    return function(a, b) {
        return a[prop] - b[prop];
    }
}

arr.sort(propComparator('name'));

You can also save the sorters for later use, directly, or as parameters:

var compareNames = propComparator('name');
var compareFoos = propComparator('foo');
...
arr.sort(compareNames);
takesComparator(compareFoos);

Updated for ES6, and make it so it actually works with different types.

Note that sort sorts in-place, which may or may not be desirable.

const arr = [
  { name: 'John', age: 92 },
  { name: 'Dave', age: 42 },
  { name: 'Justin', age: 3 }
]

const propComparator = (propName) =>
  (a, b) => a[propName] == b[propName] ? 0 : a[propName] < b[propName] ? -1 : 1

arr.sort(propComparator('name'))
console.log("By name", arr)

arr.sort(propComparator('age'))
console.log("By age", arr)

Is this what you're looking for?

function sortByProperty(array, propertyName) {
    return array.sort(function (a, b) {
        return a[propertyName] - b[propertyName];
    });
}

var sortedByName = sortByProperty(myArray, "name");

Use prototypes to compare strings and numbers correctly

Array.prototype.sortAttr = function(attr,reverse) {
  var sorter = function(a,b) {
    var aa = a[attr];
    var bb = b[attr];
    if(aa+0==aa && bb+0==bb) return aa-bb; // numbers
    else return aa.localeCompare(bb); // strings
  }
  this.sort(function(a,b) {
    var result = sorter(a,b);
    if(reverse) result*= -1;
    return result;
  });
};

Example

var data = [
  {name: "Josh", age: 18},
  {name: "John", age: 17},
  {name: "Bob", age: 20},
  {name: 0, age: "error"}
];

data.sortAttr("name");
// data is now sorted by name