Book Image

Object-Oriented JavaScript - Second Edition - Second Edition

Book Image

Object-Oriented JavaScript - Second Edition - Second Edition

Overview of this book

JavaScript is the behavior, the third pillar in today's paradigm that looks at web pages as something that consists of clearly distinguishable parts: content (HTML), presentation (CSS) and behavior (JavaScript). Using JavaScript, you can create not only web pages but also desktop widgets, browser and application extensions, and other pieces of software. It's a pretty good deal: you learn one language and then code all kinds of different applications. While there's one chapter specifically dedicated to the web browser environment including DOM, Events and AJAX tutorials, the rest is applicable to the other environments Many web developers have tried coding or adopting some bits of JavaScript, but it is time to "man up" and learn the language properly because it is the language of the browser and is, virtually, everywhere. This book starts from zero, not assuming any prior JavaScript programming knowledge and takes you through all the in-depth and exciting futures hidden behind the facade. Once listed in the "nice to have" sections of job postings, these days the knowledge of JavaScript is a deciding factor when it comes to hiring web developers. After reading this book you'll be prepared to ace your JavaScript job interview and even impress with some bits that the interviewer maybe didn't know. You should read this book if you want to be able to take your JavaScript skills to a new level of sophistication.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Object-Oriented JavaScript Second Edition
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Built-in Functions
Regular Expressions
Index

Functions are data


Functions in JavaScript are actually data. This is an important concept that we'll need later on. This means that you can create a function and assign it to a variable:

var f = function () {
  return 1;
};

This way of defining a function is sometimes referred to as function literal notation.

The part function () { return 1; } is a function expression. A function expression can optionally have a name, in which case it becomes a named function expression (NFE). So, this is also allowed, although rarely seen in practice (and causes IE to mistakenly create two variables in the enclosing scope: f and myFunc):

var f = function myFunc() {
  return 1;
};

As you can see, there's no difference between a named function expression and a function declaration. But they are, in fact, different. The only way to distinguish between the two is to look at the context in which they are used. Function declarations may only appear in program code (in a body of another function or in the main program...