Effective JavaScript Reviewed

https://github.com/raganwald/homoiconic/blob/master/2013/01/effective-javascript.md

by raganwald • 14 years ago

87 20 14 years ago

github.com

MatthewPhillips• 14 years ago

I'd like to recommend Component[1] which makes issues like this disappear.

[1]https://github.com/component/component

stagas2• 14 years ago

Exactly, the issue mentioned shouldn't be why there's a semicolon before the function wrap, but why are you wrapping your code like that in the first place.

raganwald4• 14 years ago

Are you asking why I was wrapping the code given the tools I was using at the time, or why I was using those tools at the time?

One can just as easily say, "If you were using CoffeeScript this nonsense could have been avoided" :-)

raganwald4• 14 years ago

Absolutely!

I hope it's clear that I'm not suggesting there are no other ways to solve this problem. I just tried to pick an example of something I actually learned reading the book that arose as a consequence of things I thought I already knew but hadn't put together.

I was trying to give a sense of why, if you look at the TOC and see that it discusses topics A, B, and C that you already know, you may be very pleasantly surprised when you read the book by something you didn't know about A+B, B+C, A+C, or A+B+C.

lhorie3• 14 years ago

No offense but the idiom you talked about sounds like "clever code" (in the bad way). One shouldn't have to be guessing what a sequence of semicolons and parentheses are for. There are perfectly self-explanatory language constructs to deal w/ post-file-concatenation code integrity (e.g. "new function" is just one character longer, and if you really want to be explicit and/or pedantic, there's "void function() {}()", which is not that much longer.

raganwald4• 14 years ago

None taken!

As I pointed out, I was using this idiom out of superstition, I didn't fully understand what it did and why I was doing it. Now that I read The Fine Book, I'm in a better position to evaluate whether it is necessary and why other approaches may be superior.

I see that the review could be improved by explaining that the idiom is not something the book recommends pr se, but rather something I understood once I read the book.

schmrz2• 14 years ago

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that the straightforward option is that the tools that perform concatenation handle this as well. Are there any downsides to this approach?

gilini• 14 years ago

Creation of an empty statement and dissemination of "superstitious programming", as I like to call it.

lhorie3• 14 years ago

Technically speaking no, but socially speaking yes. You wouldn't want your code base made entirely out of code golfing that works through miraculous twists and bends. By the same logic, you should prefer even small aspects of your code to be clear to a junior developer (or even yourself a year from now), rather than overly clever and packed with several layers of obscure knowledge in a single character.

richardofyork2• 14 years ago

Buy the eBook at the link below with a 45% off coupon code (and you get it in 3 formats: .mobi, .pdf, and .epub — UNBELIEVABLE. (I have never gotten more than one format of the eBook anywhere). http://www.informit.com/store/effective-javascript-68-specif...

Here is the 45% off discount code: IUGD45 (45%)

telemachos• 14 years ago

Many tech publishers now sell their ebooks as bundles: one price for multiple formats (usually the big three, sometimes even more). O'Reilly, PragPublishing, NoStarch, Informit spring to mind. (Not saying that it isn't a good thing, but I'm surprised you think it's rare.)

richardofyork2• 14 years ago

Thanks for the info, telemachos. I have always bought my eBooks from Amazon and, on some rare occasions, from iBooks iPad app. So I am happy to know there are better deals outside of Amazon.

In most cases, however, the eBooks (Kindle) are cheaper on Amazon, but I am willing to pay a few dollars more to get the eBooks in all 3 formats (.pdf. .epub, and .pdf). I personally prefer to use iBooks (.epub works fine), when I am on my iPad, and the .pdf—when I am on my laptop.

Effective JavaScript Reviewed

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