prints the prototype chain for a constructed object.

printPrototypeChain.js

/**
 * prints the prototype chain for a constructed object.
 * @param {Object} a constructed object.
 * @param asArray {Boolean} if true, the chain will be returned as an array.
 */
function printPrototypeChain(instance, asArray) {

    var chain = []

    while (instance = Object.getPrototypeOf(instance)) {
        var name = instance.constructor.toString().match(/f.+n (.+)\(/)
        chain.push(name && name[1]? name[1] : "(anonymous function expression)")
    }

    return asArray? chain : chain.join(" -> ")
}

Example output:

var a = printPrototypeChain(document.createTextNode("Hello World"))

a // "Text -> CharacterData -> Node -> Object"