About (function(){})()

[vunet]

It has been widely used nowadays to wrap JavaScript libraries, as seen
in JQuery.

(function() {
var global = this;
// ...
})();

The advantage, as I learned, is the isolation from other global
variables. But how? What other advantages does this wrapper have. For
example, I have my library as:

var myLib = {
go : function(){
alert('Hah')
},
arr : new Array()
}

How would I write myLib in (function(){})() format? Do I need to? What
are the advantages?
Please clear for me if you can.
Thanks

[David Mark]

On Oct 29, 9:46*am, vunet <[e-mail]:

It has been widely used nowadays to wrap JavaScript libraries, as seen
in JQuery.

Seen long before jQuery.

>
(function() {
* var global = this;
* // ...

})();

Actually, that looks like my library.

>
The advantage, as I learned, is the isolation from other global
variables. But how? What other advantages does this wrapper have. For
example, I have my library as:

How what? As for other advantages, "minifiers" can be more aggressive
with this pattern.

>
var myLib = {
* go : function(){
* * alert('Hah')
* },
* arr : new Array()

}

How would I write myLib in (function(){})() format? Do I need to? What

It is hard to say what you need to do. The sample above doesn't
indicate what you are trying to do.

are the advantages?

For one, you can have protected members, which you cannot do with an
object literal alone.

[snip]

[hj]

On Oct 29, 6:46 am, vunet <[e-mail]:

It has been widely used nowadays to wrap JavaScript libraries, as seen
in JQuery.

(function() {
var global = this;
// ...

})();

The advantage, as I learned, is the isolation from other global
variables. But how? What other advantages does this wrapper have. For
example, I have my library as:

Here's a concrete example: Imagine that you have some functions to
declare, *and*
some code that you want to be executed, e.g.:
function x() {
// Do something
}
function y(a) {
// Do something else
}
function untilSometime() {
x();
if ((now.getTime() + 1000) < (new Date().getTime())) {
y();
} else {
clearInterval(ihandle);
}
}
var now = new Date;
var ihandle = setInterval(untilSometime,100);
The result is that "x", "y", "untilSometime", "now", and "ihandle" are
all
global properties. There's a possibility that any of them have
overwritten
pre-existing properties with the same names, as well as the
possibility that
they'll be overwritten by code later in the document. Wrapping the
whole
thing in an immediately executed function expression makes all those
local
to that function, and avoids both those problems; and produces the
desired
effect without creating -any- global properties.

--

hj

[Rik Wasmus]

On Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:18:02 +0100, RobG <rg***@iinet.net.auwrote:

On Oct 30, 11:55 pm, vunet <[e-mail]:
[...]

>Thank you for very descriptive answer. Can I possible clear out about
what happens when this is excecuted:

(function() {
// declare myLib
var myLib = {...};

// now use it.
myLib.go(...);
// and so on

})();

The code is executed on JS run-time and is hidden to any other
libraries or variables because of the wrapper function. But at the
same time that code cannot be accessed from outside if I have onClick
handler to run one of the functions inside like onClick="myLib.go()".
Is this more "robust" (as you say) because it is global:
var global = (function(){return this})();

No. I suggested it because that method of getting a reference to the
global object can be used anywhere, you don’t have to run it as global
code.

Using an anonymous function wrapper around your library is not
necessarily more robust (depending on what you think that means), in
fact it can make life more difficult as you have to add listeners
dynamically, which introduces a whole new set of issues. If it is
purely to avoid naming clashes, an good technique is to use a prefix
for your functions, e.g.

function vU_go() { ... }
function vU_stop() { ... }

And so on. That method provides about the same protection as the
object:property method of:

var vU = {
go: function() {...}
stop: function() {...}
}

If you can get away with simple listeners like:

<input type=�button� onclick=�vU_go()�>

Hmmm, and prevent 'smart' applications from converting your carefully used
'"'s to '�'....

(=94 =decimal 148 in the windows-1252/quoted-printable source)

/prays to a random deity for this post to make sense when sent, I don't
even trust my nntp client all that much...
--
Rik