What does `var MyConstructor = function MyConstructor()` do? - javascript

What's the difference between:
var NodestrapGenerator = module.exports = function NodestrapGenerator() {
yeoman.generators.Base.apply(this, arguments);
// more code here
};
and:
var NodestrapGenerator = module.exports = function() {
yeoman.generators.Base.apply(this, arguments);
// more code here
};
I'm trying to write my yeoman-generator's index.js in coffeescript, but apparently the second snippet isn't the same because it's not working! Thanks!

var NodestrapGenerator = module.exports = function NodestrapGenerator() { ... };
This is a named function called "NodestrapGenerator", assigned to variable NodestrapGenerator.
var NodestrapGenerator = module.exports = function() { ... };
This is an unnamed function aka. anonymous function, which gets assigned to variable NodestrapGenerator.
In the end, they're both referencing the same function, so no difference which way you write it.
See this for more explanation: var functionName = function() {} vs function functionName() {}
As to why it's not working, its probably because the code is looking for the named function NodestrapGenerator to verify that it's the function it should be using, not some random anonymous function.
FYI, function has a property name which will get set to "NodestrapGenerator" in named function (first example), but will be empty string "" in anonymous function (second example). (See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Function/name)

Related

How Come public method is not printing in a IIFE?

Shouldn't hello be printed in the console because of the return statement? The code is immediately invoked because of the () at the end so why isn't it printing?
var Module = (function () {
var privateMethod = function () {
// private
};
var someMethod = function () {
// public
console.log('hello');
};
var anotherMethod = function () {
// public
};
return {
someMethod: someMethod,
anotherMethod: anotherMethod
};
})();
return {
someMethod: someMethod, // just a function reference
anotherMethod: anotherMethod // again a function reference
};
So, you're not calling the function. You're just returning the function reference attached to a property of an object. Try to use comma operator here, which evaluates to the right most statement, whilst executing someMethod() function.
return {
someMethod: someMethod(), someMethod, // first getting called and someMethod ref is passed to the property
anotherMethod: anotherMethod
};
It's because of the var keyword on the top infront of Module.
f you do the following in the console:
var a = 5 // a is set to 5 yet undefined is shown in the console.
If you were to take off the var keyword:
a = 5 // a is again set to 5 yet 5 is shown in the console.
But in your real code you would want to use the var keyword.
So simply put it's just the console's way of outputting like that, idk why.
Enlighting more,
function itseld is object of Function (see https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/x844tc74%28v=vs.94%29.aspx)
So Basically you are adding a reference to object of type Function, which is not IIFE.

What is difference between these two functions?

I have tried folllowing two ways of referring a function:
First
let a = function() {
somefunction();
}
Second
let a = somefunction;
Where somefunction is the following in both cases:
function somefunction() {
alert("hello");
}
Is there any difference between these two ways?
Yes, there is a difference between your two examples.
In the first case, you are defining a new anonymous (unnamed) function which calls somefunction. You are then assigning your new function definition to the variable a. a holds a reference to your new function.
In the second case, you are simply assigning your original function of somefunction to the variable a. The variable a then holds a reference to somefunction. You are not creating a new function as you are in the first case.
I think this example may make the difference clear. arguments is an array like object that contains each of the arguments passed to a function.
Try running each of these lines on your favorite browser console.
var somefunction = function() { console.log(arguments); };
Your first example demonstrates defining a named function a that closes around the named function somefunction.
var a = function() { somefunction(); };
Your second example makes a reference, b, directly to somefunction. This makes invoking b the same as invoking somefunction.
var b = somefunction;
Now if you call each of these a and b with some arguments you will see the difference.
=> a('a', 1);
[]
=> b('a', 1);
['a', 1]
In the first case the arguments object is empty. That's because the arguments that were passed to a were not forwarded onto somefunction.
In the second case the arguments are available to somefunction, because some function is being called directly.
Here is how you could redefine a so that it were functionally equivalent using apply
var a = function() { somefunction.apply(this, arguments); }
Running this at your console prints the argument array.
=> a('a', 1);
['a', 1]
var a = function(){
somefunction();
}
Is an Anonymous Function attributed to a variable.
somefunction :function() {
alert("hello");
}
Is an declaration of a function throungh the Object Literal notation.
The diference are shown when you are creating an object. The anonymous function are not acessible as a "public" method, instead in the Object Literal notation, that are acessible from outside.
As Douglas Crockford said, in JS the Good Parts, the first declaration are just a function and the second one could be a method.
In the first case, you are creating a function which calls someFunction(), then you assign that function to a, so now calling a() calls an anonymous function which in turn calls someFunction().
In the second case, a and someFunction become the exact same thing, calling a() is the same as calling someFunction().
The way you're setting var a by accessing the function is clearly out of scope.
So I suspect you have a typo : instead of = :
var somefunction = function() {
alert("hello");
};
somefunction(); // hello
...Now that your first and second makes sense with the code above:
Anonymous Function stored in variable:
var a = function(){
alert('Hey');
somefunction();
};
a(); // Hey // hello
Variable as Function Reference
var a = somefunction;
a(); // hello
In the other case than:
var objLiteral = {
somefunction : function() {
alert("hello");
}
};
var a = objLiteral.somefunction;
a(); // hello

Does the var becomes a function because of a javascript function stored in a var?

In below example about Scope, I dont understand that how could a variable is running as a function? in here var f is running as f(). However, is this a sound method to run f in JavaScript? Why? Is it because var f stored a function?
var myFunction = function() {
var foo = "hello";
var myFn = function() {
console.log( foo );
};
foo = "ddd";
return myFn;
};
var f = myFunction();
f(); // "ddd"
Thanks!
This line of code will run the function myFunction and assign its return value to f.
var f = myFunction();
myFunction returns a reference to the function myFn. As a result, f is now a reference to myFn and when you attempt to call f using f() it calls myFn because that is where the reference points.
jsFiddle Demo
There is a similar approach which returns an object with functions
var init = function(){
return {
hello: function(){ console.log("hello"); },
world: function(){ console.log("world"); }
};
};
Which could then be used like this:
var f = init();
f.hello();
f.world();
In scripting languages in general and functional programming. You can use functions as you would a variable. For example: in both paradigms typically(not aware of any languages that don't) functions can be passed as parameters, etc...
Functions are objects in javascript, so they can be assigned to variables and passed around like any other value. And eventually they can be executed.
What's happening here is that myFunction returns a function, which can then of course be executed.
Let me simplify your example:
// function that returns a function.
var foo = function() {
// declare a function, but don't run it right now.
var fn = function() {
return "bar";
};
// return the function object.
return fn;
}
var someFn = foo(); // function object is returned from foo()
someFn(); // "bar" is returned
// Which means you could also do this!
// the first () executes foo, second () executes the function returned by foo()
foo()() // "bar" is returned
In this example, foo() returns a function. This function is saved to the local variable someFn and then executed.
Functions that return functions are a little tricky to wrap you head around sometimes, but it's one of the most powerful features of javascript as it allows you do some very tricky things.

Define an anonymous function as part of an object definition?

Suppose I have:
var myfunc = function() {
// do stuff
}
myfunc.foo = function() {
//do other stuff
};
Now myfunc has a property foo that is a function, great. Is there a way to create myfunc from the get-go in this state? That is, I want foo to be defined when myfunc is created. The syntax, I would imagine, is something like:
var myfunc = {
:function() {
// do stuff
},
foo: function() {
// do other stuff
}
}
Except that's wrong.
You can place an anonymous function inside an object, however the only plausible way of doing this is to call the anonymous function when the object is initialised, otherwise the function will never be able to be called - it's anonymous!
Here's a JSFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/g105b/99K5F/
var myfunc = function() {
this.foo = function() {
console.log("myfunc.foo called!");
};
(function() {
console.log("Anonymous function called.");
})();
};
// Initialising "myfunc" will call the anonymous function.
var instance = new myfunc();
// Now the foo method can be called.
instance.foo();
A little confused as to what functionality you are looking to gain here...
If you want some code to execute when the myfunc is defined, you could use the module pattern:
var myfunc = (function() {
var self = {};
// any initialization code can go here
alert("myfunc init code");
self.somePublicMethod = function () {
}
return self;
}());
This can also be called an immediate function, a function that is defined and executed at the same time.
From within the closure, and code that is not defined as part of another function will be executed when the object is defined, so when you do something like this:
myfunc.somePublicMethod()
the alert would have already been fired.
(This answer written before the first half of the question was significantly revised)
Now myfunc has a property foo that is a function
No, it doesn't.
You called it with myfunc() so this is a reference to the global window object, thus you are creating window.foo.
Possibly what you are looking for is:
function myfunc () {
// do stuff when myfunc is called
}
myfunc.foo = function () {
// do stuff when myfunc.foo is called
};
or perhaps:
function myfunc () {
// do stuff when myfunc is instantiated
this.foo = function () {
// Add a foo property to this when myfunc is instantiated
// ... which is only worth while if you are doing pretty
// ... odd stuff with the variables that are passed in
}
}
var instance = new myfunc();
or maybe:
function myfunc () {
// do stuff when myfunc is instantiated
}
myfunc.prototype.foo = function () {
// Have a foo function on every instance of myfunc
}
var instance = new myfunc();
… but you've abstracted the problem you are trying to solve away in your question, so it is hard to tell what you are actually trying to achieve.
You can use jQuery:
var myFunc = jQuery.extend(
function() { ... },
{
bar: "wioll haven be",
foo: function() { alert(myFunc.bar); }
}
);
myFunc();
myFunc.foo();
This is mostly code acrobatics, this is probably the closest you'll get:
var myfunc;
(myfunc = function(){}).foo = function(){};
There is no practical difference in declaring methods later though, since javascript is single-threaded.

JavaScript function declaration

Are the JavaScript code snippets given below some sort of function declaration? If not can someone please give an overview of what they are?
some_func = function(value) {
// some code here
}
and
show:function(value){
// some code here
}
There are six ways/contexts in which to create functions:
1) Standard declarative notation (most familiar to people with C background)
function foo() {}
All the rest are function expressions:
2) As a method of an object literal
var obj = {
foo: function() {}
};
3) As a method of an instantiated object (created each time new is exectued)
var Obj = function() {
this.foo = function() {};
};
4) As a method of a prototype (created only once, regardless of how many times new is executed)
var Obj = function() {};
Obj.prototype.foo = function() {};
5) As an anonymous function with a reference (same effect as #1) *
var foo = function() {};
6) As an immediately executed anonymous function (completely anonymous)
(function() {})();
* When I look at this statement, I consider the result. As such, I don't really consider these as anonymous, because a reference is immediately created to the function and is therefore no longer anonymous. But it's all the same to most people.
The first one is simply creating an anonymous function and assigning it to a variable some_func. So using some_func() will call the function.
The second one should be part of an object notation
var obj = {
show:function(value){
// some code here
}
};
So, obj.show() will call the function
In both cases, you are creating an anonymous function. But in the first case, you are simply assigning it to a variable. Whereas in the second case you are assigning it as a member of an object (possibly among many others).
First is local (or global) variable with assigned anonymous function.
var some_name = function(val) {};
some_name(42);
Second is property of some object (or function with label in front of it) with assigned anonymous function.
var obj = {
show: function(val) {},
// ...
};
obj.show(42);
Functions are first-class citizens in JavaScript, so you could assign them to variables and call those functions from variable.
You can even declare function with other name than variable which that function will be assigned to. It is handy when you want to define recursive methods, for example instead of this:
var obj = {
show: function(val) {
if (val > 0) { this.show(val-1); }
print(val);
}
};
you could write:
var obj = {
show: function f(val) {
if (val > 0) { f(val-1); }
print(val);
}
};
One way of doing it:
var some_func = function(value) {
// some code here
}
Another way:
function some_funct() {
}
Yet another way:
var some_object={};
some_object["some_func"] = function() {};
or:
var some_object={};
some_object.some_func = function() {};
In other words, they are many ways to declare a function in JS.
Your second example is not correct.
The first one is a function declaration assigned to a variable (at least it should be, despite the fact that it's missing the variable type declaration first), the second one is probably related to a object declaration.
They are called anonymous functions; you can read more about them here:
http://www.ejball.com/EdAtWork/2005/03/28/JavaScriptAnonymousFunctions.aspx
The first example creates a global variable (if a local variable of that name doesn't already exist) called some_func, and assigns a function to it, so that some_func() may be invoked.
The second example is a function declaration inside an object. it assigns a function as the value of the show property of an object:
var myObj = {
propString: "abc",
propFunction: function() { alert('test'); }
};
myObj.propFunction();
The first one...
some_func = function(value) {
// some code here
}
is declaring a variable and assigned an anonymous function to it, which is equivalent to...
function some_func (value) {
// some code here
}
The second one should look like this...
obj = {
show:function(value){
// some code here
}
}
// obj.show(value)
and equivalent to...
//pseudo code
class MyClass {
function show (value) {
// some code here
}
}
obj = new MyClass(); // obj.show(value)
Cheers

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