Why does this function return as undefined? - javascript

String.prototype.parse = function(f) {
alert(this.replace(f, ""));
};
var a = "Hello World";
parse.apply(a, ["Hello"]);
Is the code correct?

No, that’s not correct. The function is defined as String.prototype.parse, so it is not available as parse (in fact, parse is undefined).
You could run it like the following:
String.prototype.parse.apply(a, ["Hello"]);
But actually, the reason why you add the function to the prototype of String is that you extend String objects with that function. So you actually should just run the function like this:
a.parse("Hello");
edit:
Oh, and in response to your question title “Why does this function return as undefined?”: The function doesn’t return anything, because you don’t tell the function to return anything. You could for example define it like this to return the replaced string (instead of alerting it):
String.prototype.parse = function(f) {
return this.replace(f, "");
};
And then you could alert the return value of the function:
alert(a.parse("Hello"));

There is no such variable parse defined in your code sample. If you really want to apply the function later on, you should do this:
// Capture function as a local variable first
var parse = function(f) { alert(this.replace(f, "")); };
String.prototype.parse = parse;

Related

How can you recover the source code from a pure JavaScript function?

By Pure, I mean in the sense of the λ-calculus, i.e., a single-argument function containing nothing on its body other than single-argument functions and single argument function calls. By recovering the source code, I mean up to variable renaming. So, for example,
n2 = function(v0){return function(v1){return v0(v0(v1))}}
console.log(source(n2));
console.log(source(n2(n2)));
Should print:
function(v0){return function(v0){return v0(v0(v1))}}
function(v0){return function(v0){return v0(v0(v0(v0(v1))))}}
That is, the first line shows the original source of the function n2, and the second one shows the source of the function that is returned by the evaluation of n2(n2).
I've managed to implement it as follows:
function source(f){
var nextVarId = 0;
return (function recur(f){
if (typeof f === "function"){
if (f.isVarFunc) return f(null);
else {
var varName = "v"+(nextVarId++);
var varFunc = function rec(res){
var varFunc = function(arg){
return arg === null
? "("+res.join(")(")+")"
: rec(res.concat(recur(arg)));
};
varFunc.isVarFunc = true;
return varFunc;
};
varFunc.isVarFunc = true;
var body = f(varFunc([varName]));
body = body.isVarFunc ? body(null) : recur(body);
return "(function("+varName+"){return "+body+"})";
};
} else return f;
})(f);
};
The issue is that I'm using some rather ugly method of tagging functions by setting their names to a specific value, and that it won't work in functions that are applied more than once (such as a(b)(b)). Is there any better principled way to solve this problem?
Edit: I managed to design a version that seems to be correct in all cases, but it is still an ugly unreadable unprincipled mess.
Finally, this is a considerably cleaned up version of the mess above.
// source :: PureFunction -> String
// Evaluates a pure JavaScript function to normal form and returns the
// source code of the resulting function as a string.
function source(fn){
var nextVarId = 0;
return (function normalize(fn){
// This is responsible for collecting the argument list of a bound
// variable. For example, in `function(x){return x(a)(b)(c)}`, it
// collects `a`, `b`, `c` as the arguments of `x`. For that, it
// creates a variadic argumented function that is applied to many
// arguments, collecting them in a closure, until it is applied to
// `null`. When it is, it returns the JS source string for the
// application of the collected argument list.
function application(argList){
var app = function(arg){
return arg === null
? "("+argList.join(")(")+")"
: application(argList.concat(normalize(arg)));
};
app.isApplication = true;
return app;
};
// If we try to normalize an application, we apply
// it to `null` to stop the argument-collecting.
if (fn.isApplication)
return fn(null);
// Otherwise, it is a JavaScript function. We need to create an
// application for its variable, and call the function on it.
// We then normalize the resulting body and return the JS
// source for the function.
else {
var varName = "v"+(nextVarId++);
var body = normalize(fn(application([varName])));
return "(function("+varName+"){return "+body+"})";
};
})(fn);
};
It is still not perfect but looks much better nether less. It works as expected:
console.log(source(function(a){return function(b){return a(b)}}))
Outputs:
(function(v0){return (function(v1){return (v0)((v1))})})
I wonder how inefficient that is, though.

Intercepting constructor calls in Javascript

Somewhere a constructor is defined like
var Something = function() {
// do stuff
}
If I could insert the line
mydebug.Something = this;
at the beginning, I could store the most recently created instance of Something, which would help me debugging. I can't, but I get passed the Something (the function and its name) and can replace it by something else. I just don't know how to make the "something else" to behave like the original.
function intercept(someConstructor, someName) {
return function <<someName>> () { // 1
var result = <<create a new instance>>; // 2
mydebug[someName] = result;
return result;
}
}
which would get called as
intercept(Something, "Something")
There are at least two problems:
I don't know how to create a function having a name given by a variable.
I don't know how to create the instance.
For 1:
Depending on where you are storing that function you don't have to name it in your intercept implementation.
You can just do return function () { ... or you can do something similar to someObject[someName] = function()... and then return someObject[someName].
For 2:
If I understand correctly you should be able to just do var result = new someConstructor();, but I'm not 100% clear on your goal.

How to create javascript function lookup object?

I'm attempting to create a function lookup in Javascript essentially mapping a data type to a function that does something for that data type. Right now I have something similar to:
var Namespace = Namespace || {};
Namespace.MyObj = function () {
var stringFunc = function(someData) {
//Do some string stuff with someData
};
var intFunc = function(someData) {
//Do some int stuff with someData
};
var myLookUp = {
'string': stringFunc,
'int' : intFunc
};
return {
PublicMethod: function (dataType, someData) {
myLookUp[dataType](someData);
}
};
} ();
When I invoke Namespace.MyObj.PublicMethod(dataType, someData) I get an error that myLookUp is not defined. I'm assuming I'm not going about setting up the function lookup object correctly, but not sure how to do so. Thanks for any help.
The problem might simply be incorrect case
myLookup[dataType](someData);
should be (notice the capital U)
myLookUp[dataType](someData);
Just looked at my post after I wrote it up, stupid oversight, I'm declaring the properties as strings, instead of just properties.
....
var myLookUp = {
string: stringFunc,
int: intFunc
};
....
Fixes the issue.
Some additional follow up, in my actual code dataType is the result of a jQuery select. Don't know why or if this would be browser dependant (I'm using FireFox), but using double quotes around the property definition works, single quotes does not, and no quotes works as well. :-\

Change var in object literal function

Hi guys I am writing some code using the object literal pattern, I have function that returns a value:
'currentLocation': function() {
var cL = 0;
return cL;
},
I then need to update the variable 'cL' from another function like this:
teamStatus.currentLocation() = teamStatus.currentLocation() + teamStatus.scrollDistance();
This part is part of another function - however I get an error back stating: invalid assignment left-hand side
I am guessing I can not update the variable in this way, could anyone suggest a better method or point me in the right direction.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Going to add more code to highlight what I am trying to do:
'currentLocation': function() {
var cL = 0;
return cL;
},
'increaseTable': function() {
if (teamStatus.currentLocation() <= teamStatus.teamStatusTableHeight() ) {
teamStatus.currentLocation = teamStatus.currentLocation() + teamStatus.scrollDistance();
$("#tableTrackActual").animate({scrollTop: (teamStatus.currentLocation)});
$("#tableMembers").animate({scrollTop: (teamStatus.currentLocation) });
//console.log(teamStatus.currentLocation());
teamStatus.buttonRevealer();
}
}
As you can see increaseTable should update the value of currentLocation - help this sheds more light on what I am trying to achieve.
You're writing teamStatus.currentLocation() =, which calls the function teamStatus.currentLocation and tries to assign to the return value. That isn't valid. You want just teamStatus.currentLocation = — no function call.
The variable inside your function is completely private to that function (and any functions defined within it). If you need to create a number of functions that share a set of private variables, you can do that with a closure. For instance:
var Thing = (function() {
var thingWideData;
function getData() {
return thingWideData;
}
function setData(newData) {
thingWideData = newData;
}
return {
getData: getData,
setData: setData
};
})();
What that does is create a Thing object which has getData and setData functions available for it, which get and set the completely private thingWideData variable contained by the anonymous closure. More about this pattern here and here, although the latter of those is more about private methods than private data.
What your code produces is:
0 = 0 + <some number>
Which variable do you want to update? cL? You are declaring it in the function, you cannot assign a value to it from outside. Depending on the rest of your code, you might be better off with getters and setters:
var object = {
_cL = 0,
get currentLocation() {
return this._cL;
},
set currentLocation(value) {
this._cL = value;
}
}
then you can do:
teamStatus.currentLocation = teamStatus.currentLocation + teamStatus.scrollDistance();
Update:
Regarding IE: If currentLocation should actually be just a number, it might be sufficient to just declare it as property:
var obj = {
currentLocation: 0
}

console.log does not print undefined?

I am new to Javascript. I am trying to understand where "this" is bound to using different examples. I am using console.log to print some values as shown below.
function FuncObject(value) {
this.answer = value;
this.get_answer = function () {
return this.answer;
}
};
var f = new FuncObject(42);
var fanswer = f.get_answer;
console.log(fanswer())
console.log prints "function" instead of "undefined". document.writeln seems to print "undefined" which is the right one because this is bound to the window object which does not have answer. Now printing function confuses me. Now I am wondering what i should be using for logging. I am unable to find an explanation for this.
thanks mohan
Just incase you didn't notice, there's a typo in your posted code of
this.get_answer = funcition ()
With that in mind, I'm not entirely sure of your experience level so let me cover all the bases.
function FuncObject(value) {
this.answer = value;
this.get_answer = function () {
return this.answer;
}
};
var f = new FuncObject(42);
var fanswer = f.get_answer;
console.log(fanswer())
You're setting fanswer = f.get_answer where f.get_answer is a function, so as such it sets fanswer to the function equivalent of this.get_answer.
If you want the return value of f.get_answer you need to call f.get_answer(), which returns 42.
With what you put, console.log(fanswer()) does print undefined as expected.
If you simply do console.log(fanswer) it records it as function, also as expected.
I'm not sure why you would receive function as you stated in your question, because I definitely do not, jsbin.

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