I am now working on some coding conventions for use at one of my clients. Having done some work on the HTML and CSS ones, I recently started with the javascript one. As I was working on it, I looked at the work done by others, like Douglas Crockford. Some of my co-workers suggested that we did this:
var nameSpace = (function () {
// declare all of your var's before using them..
var config, init,x,doStuff;
config = {
a : 'a'
};
init = function ( arg ) {
doStuff( arg );
};
x = '36';
doStuff = function ( arg ) {
// dostuff
};
return {
init:init
};
}());
While I initially agreed with this, as it seems nice and neat, I spotted a problem with it when it gets big. As you get a really big script and more people working on it, chances are that you will get someone to forget to declare a var in the beginning of the function, hence making it global.
Like this:
var nameSpace = (function () {
// declare all of your var's before using them..
var config, init,x,doStuff;// we forgot to add doMoreStuff
config = {
a : 'a'
};
init = function ( arg ) {
doStuff( arg );
};
x = '36';
doStuff = function ( arg ) {
// dostuff
doMoreStuff();
};// doMoreStuff is global
doMoreStuff = function () {
alert( config.b );
}; return {
init:init
};
}());
So I came up with a (not so revolutionary) way of avoiding this and I am curious what you think of it?
It goes like this:
var nameSpace = (function () {
// start with var to avoid global variables
var config = {
a : 'a',
b : 'b'
},
// continue with a comma to stay in the same var declaration.
init = function ( arg ) {
doStuff( arg );
},
x = '3',
doStuff = function ( arg ) {
// dostuff
};
// end with a semi colon.
return {
init:init
};
}());
I think that this has the advantage that when someone else continues with this code he can extend it easily, while not accidentally introducing globlal variables...
var nameSpace = (function () {
// start with var to avoid global variables
var config = {
a : 'a',
b : 'b'
},
// continue with a comma to stay in the same var declaration.
init = function ( arg ) {
doStuff( arg );
},
x = '3',
doStuff = function ( arg ) {
// doStuff
},// if you add a new var it's not global
doMoreStuff = function (){
// do more stuff
};
// end with a semi colon.
return {
init:init
};
}());
What do you think, is this a good way to structure your code or am I missing something?
A must read by Christian Heilman
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