Can someone explain the purpose of this syntax

[blue]

The following is from
http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/examp.../dd-ontop.html

What does the (function(){ })(); syntax actually do? I'm going to guess
that is creates an unnamed function?! Many thanks.

<script type="text/javascript">

(function() {

var dd, dd2, dd3;
YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() {
dd = new YAHOO.example.DDOnTop("dd-demo-1");
dd2 = new YAHOO.example.DDOnTop("dd-demo-2");
dd3 = new YAHOO.example.DDOnTop("dd-demo-3");
});

})();

</script>

[Lasse Reichstein Nielsen]

blue <wh********@gmail.comwrites:

What does the (function(){ })(); syntax actually do? I'm going to
guess that is creates an unnamed function?! Many thanks.

It creates an unnamed function, and it immediately calls that
function. The effect is to create a new scope for the code in the
body of the function. Local variables declared inside the function
will not be visible afterwards.

/L
--
Lasse Reichstein Nielsen - lr*@hotpop.com
DHTML Death Colors: <URL:http://www.infimum.dk/HTML/rasterTriangleDOM.html>
'Faith without judgement merely degrades the spirit divine.'

[Jeremy J Starcher]

On Sat, 24 May 2008 23:35:37 +0100, blue wrote:

The following is from
http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/examp.../dd-ontop.html

What does the (function(){ })(); syntax actually do? I'm going to guess
that is creates an unnamed function?! Many thanks.

[code snipped]

Exactly, though the phrase you are looking for is "anonymous functions".

If a function will only be called one place, then anonymous functions
allow cleaner code because the "sub-function" is right there, where used.
You'll also want to read up on "javascript closures", a related and very
useful coding technique.

[blue]

Lasse Reichstein Nielsen wrote:

It creates an unnamed function, and it immediately calls that
function. The effect is to create a new scope for the code in the
body of the function. Local variables declared inside the function
will not be visible afterwards.

Cheers for that. I see now the (function(){}) bit declares the function,
and the () bit executes it. Would it's use be to just keep the global
namespace clean/seperate? Cheers.

[blue]

Jeremy J Starcher wrote:

Exactly, though the phrase you are looking for is "anonymous functions".

I knew it had a name.

If a function will only be called one place, then anonymous functions
allow cleaner code because the "sub-function" is right there, where used.

Thanks for explaining that.

You'll also want to read up on "javascript closures", a related and very
useful coding technique.

Just did a search for that, and some interesting results - which I'll
read in the morning, bit late to understand. Thank you for pointing that
out, it'll prove useful.

[VK]

On May 25, 2:35 am, blue <[e-mail]:

The following is fromhttp://developer.yahoo.com/yui/examples/dragdrop/dd-ontop.html

What does the (function(){ })(); syntax actually do? I'm going to guess
that is creates an unnamed function?! Many thanks.

<script type="text/javascript">

(function() {

var dd, dd2, dd3;
YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() {
dd = new YAHOO.example.DDOnTop("dd-demo-1");
dd2 = new YAHOO.example.DDOnTop("dd-demo-2");
dd3 = new YAHOO.example.DDOnTop("dd-demo-3");
});

})();

</script>

A couple of years ago I was myself highly puzzled by this construct.
It is an age old task to define a function and to execute it
immediately. At older times - and this is what I used to - it was
simply
function myFunction() {
// statements
}
myFunction();
There are two drawbacks as I see it:
1st and the main one, I guess :-) - it is not cool
2nd is that myFunction unconditionally goes to the global space so
overrides any other myFunction defined before that. While the "rude
namespace" is not so important for a stay alone program, for a
libraries friendly program one may want to have "shy namespace" so no
global var will be created unless the needed identifier is not in
use; otherwise it warns or uses reserve identifiers.
In the latter case wrapped anonymous function may be of a good help:
(function() {
if (typeof myFunction == 'undefined') {
myFunction = functionBody;
}
else {
// namespace conflict handling
}
})();

It is important that the function has to be anonymous then because of
different treatment of function declaration wrapped into expression.
Having
(function f() {
// function body
})();
JavaScript doesn't create global function f but JScript does so global
f remains in the memory. One of rare situations when JavaScript vs.
JScript difference is important to know.

[Richard Cornford]

blue wrote:

Lasse Reichstein Nielsen wrote:

>It creates an unnamed function, and it immediately calls that
function. The effect is to create a new scope for the code
in the body of the function. Local variables declared inside
the function will not be visible afterwards.

Cheers for that. I see now the (function(){}) bit declares
the function, and the () bit executes it. Would it's use be
to just keep the global namespace clean/seperate? Cheers.

That is certainly one use. Most applications of the construct originate
from attempts to introduce nation of 'private' into a language where (on
the face of it) everything seems to be public. That is, they were used
for encapsulation. Overlapping that, the construct is also used grouping
related functionality into discrete components/modules (particularly
where internal details don't need to be (or rather 'should not be')
exposed outside of the module/component.

However, javascript is a functional programming language and directly
calling function expressions long pre-dates most of its current
applications. For example, I recall an example where the idea was to
start off a recursive examination of a tree structure were the function
resulting form the expression would call itself if it needed to (using -
arguments.calleee -) and the initial inline call to the anonymous
function expression was used to start the process off and pass in the
starting tree node as an argument.

Richard.