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What is stored in variable cols in : var $cols = $('.sortdivs').on('click',function(){...});

var $cols = $('.sortdivs').on('click',function(){…});
I know that the function will run when any element with sortdivs class is clicked.
I dont know what is being stored in variable cols and how it can be used.
I tried printing variable cols and i got 'object Object' as the output.Thanks in advance.

The return value from .on is simply the collection that it was called on, for chaining purposes.
$cols, therefore, is the jQuery object containing a list of elements matched by $('.sortdivs') at the time of exection (NB: not at the time of click).
[object Object] is the string representation of any object. Try to inspect the object in another manner, for instance by using console.log($cols) to be able to get more information of just the output of a simple toString().

You can see access all the property store in variable by writing $cols[0] like ATTRIBUTE_NODE,canHaveChildren, canHaveHTML etc. You can debug and see what is inside $col[0] and based on your requirement you can manipulate them. I hope this will be helpful for you.

Does Javascript temporary object need reference variable and/or closures?

I need short messages disappearing after preset time. Please see the fiddle here: http://jsfiddle.net/X88F9/1/.
It works well, what I am not sure about is the reference for each created object:
function addObject() {
new SomeObj(Math.random() * 1000 + 300);
}
it is not stored in any variable, can I just leave it as it is ? Or do I need to push them in some array ?
I also found this recommendation to put all in closures: https://stackoverflow.com/a/10246262/2969375, but not sure if necessary in my case and if yes, then how.

My answer to the question is: Javascript does not need a reference to the object to work, as proofed by your fiddle. So the question is more about if you need a reference to the object, to do other stuff with it later on. If you, for instance, would like to give the user the ability to click the temporarily display message and stop it from disappearing, than you can put all that code in a closure and do not need a reference, too. But if you would like to display the very same object again after it was removed from the DOM, than you need to store it in an array, other object, or variable, depending on your needs and ways to find it in a list.

Passing Variables Javascript

I am trying to pass a variable in javascript. I create a link in the following manner and everything seems to be working.
label.innerHTML = ' link';
However when I create the link in the following way where the link would also pass an associated object I get the following error from firebug -> "missing ] after element list"
label.innerHTML = ' link';
Is this an acceptable way to pass an object to a function. The problem is that I am creating this link within a function. The function creates links like this based upon an object that is passed to it. Therefore I cannot have this "object" as a global scope.

You are building the script by mashing together strings, as such you can only work with strings and object will be automatically stringified.
Use DOM instead.
var link = document.createElement('a');
link.href = "#"; // Have a more sensible fall back for status bar readers and middle clickers
link.appendChild(document.createTextNode(' link');
link.addEventListener('click',function () { show_box(this, object); },false);
label.appendChild(link);
… but use a library that abstracts away the non-standard event models that some browsers have.

What you're trying to do is pass the contents of object to output. Since it's an object, the string representation will be something like [object Object]. The output HTML would look like:
link
which is invalid. Don't try to concatenate the object, just pass it along as another argument to the function, like this. Or, better yet, use jQuery:
<!-- somewhere in the head, or at least after the object is defined -->
<script type="text/javascript">
$(function() {
$('#thelink').click(function() { show_box(this, object); });
});
</script>
...
link

If your object is simple variable like numeric or string variable than it will be Ok but if you are passing html object it will not work because it will be something like below.
link

Programatically output variable and object names as literal text strings

I'd really like to track variables without switching between Firebug console windows or clicking around so much, so I want to draw a runtime viewer of variable names and their corresponding values that will display on the page of the app I am building.
I'd like to two functions, show(variableName) and freeze(variableName). They will output both the variable's value and the name of the variable or object as a literal string which will serve as the text label in the viewer. freeze(variableName) is the same as show(variableName) except with a setTimeOut timer for tracking loops.
I'm sure I'm missing something basic, but I haven't found out a way to get the string that comprises the name of a value programmatically so I can use it as a label. I guess I could create the table with hardcoded labels prior to runtime and just populate it with values at runtime, but I really want to generate the table dynamically so it only has those variables I specifically want to show or freeze. Simple functions:
foo1 = "Rock";
show(foo1);
foo2 = "Paper";
show(foo2);
foo3 = "Scissors";
show(foo3);
should output this via getElementById('viewer-table'):
<table>\<tr><td>foo1</td><td>Rock</td></tr><tr><td>foo2</td><td>Paper</td></tr><tr><td>foo3</td><td>Scissors</td></tr></table>
I've tried this solution:
How to convert variable name to string in JavaScript?
and eval() but it's not working for me...I dunno, shouldn't this be easy? Getting frustrated...
Thanks,
motorhobo

I am not sure you can actually get the "name" of the variable that is being passed into a function for two reasons:
1) The variable is just an identifier. In fact, you could have multiple identifiers reference the exact same object. You are (generally) passing that reference, not any actual object.
2) The show/freeze function is going to stomp on the identifier name, either through named arguments in the function declaration or by referencing them through the arguments array.
I was trying to think if there was some clever way to use the arguments.callee or the stack property on an exception in Firefox... but I can't see anything that would expose the arguments as you desire.
What I would recommend is to simply add the name of the variable and its value to a simple object, and call one of the various jsDump methods (I prefer the one in QUnit):
function show(o) {
document.getElementById("viewer-table").innerHTML = QUnit.jsDump(o);
}
// actually use the method
show({"foo1":foo1});

There's no easy way to solve this as the called function simply doesn't know the original name of the variable. You couldn't solve this with reflection even (esp. in javascript) so you'll have to pass the name of the variable to the function too. To follow the link you posted:
function show(varObject)
{
for(name in varObject)
{
alert(name + ": " + varObject[name]);
// save both name and reference to the variable to a local "to observe array"
}
}
And call it with
var test = "xxx";
show({'test' : test});
Within the for loop you could add easy variable to a monitor array and update your gui in fixed time intervalls (you can't be notifed when a signle variable changes it's value. You need some kind of global monitor/observer which exactly you're trying to create).

What is a reverse reference to the DOM object?

In this link: http://css-tricks.com/snippets/jquery/jquery-plugin-template/ it has a line of code that says
// Add a reverse reference to the DOM object
base.$el.data("yourPluginName", base);
what does the "reverse reference to the DOM object" mean?

Assuming that you know the jQuery data function:
It's storing a reference to the instance of the class in the data cache of jQuery, meaning that the stored instance can be used to access the initial base object if it in the current context is not available.
This way, the class instance can be used later. However, the use of the prototype keyword upon the initial class that the instance were created from will modify the instance.
EDIT:
Ooops, it seems that Anurag is right, and I was giving wrong information.
Sorry, the information I gave in initial answer was not completely correct. I've updated the answer, so it now tells the truth.
In the comments you're asking:
so you mean its storing the current state of "base" in the data cache but if we make changes to "base" later on then the one in the data wont be affected? so if for some reason we needed to get the original one again we can do data('yourPluginName') to retrieve it? can you give me an example of when this would be helpful?
It seems that none of the statements are correct.
As I did obviously not remember adequately, the thing stored in data is only a reference to the object:
var obj = {};
obj.hello = "Hello";
$("#someElement").data("object", obj);
obj.world = " world.";
alert(
obj.hello +
$("#someElement").data("object").world
); // alerts "Hello world."
BTW, JavaScript variables with names like this base-thing (but, more often seen as that or similar) are typically used to represent the current context, accessed through the this keyword, which on many occasions is more easy to store in another variable due to scoping/context changes, that will make the current context and therefore this, change.
Also due to issues with context, the stored value in data could be used to access the specific object instance from another context (that is, when this represents something else), instead of the version of the base object that was continually used after a copy of it was stored.
I hope this answered you questions :D

The technique and the problem it solves is general and not specific to jQuery plugins. There may be cases where a Javascript object corresponds to a DOM element, and wraps logic specific to that DOM element. This object might be interested in listening to events such as clicks that happen within that DOM element. The information we get in those callbacks is the element that triggered it, and not the associated object. You could use jQuery's data API or any type of map in general to retrieve the corresponding object, and do something with it.