Tuesday, November 1, 2011

JavaScript Basics–Native Stuff

For a while I’ve been wanting to write about some core things that I’ve learned while creating complex JavaScript applications. Not necessarily ‘begginer’ things, but I guess someone could use these as so.

I also build on the .NET platform. Think what you will, but I like it… and I’ve written Ruby (liked it too), and love JavaScript (a dynamic language at that) development.

First off JavaScript does have some core types that should be understood. My attempt to describe them below is for someone coming from a strongly typed world:

Boolean true/false
String character array
Number float (can be used as integer, decimal, etc…)
Null null
Undefined basically non-existent, values can’t be initialized to ‘undefined’
Object essentially a dictionary/hash table of key values
Array not really a true array, but an object with numerical keys, and native manipulation functions. Think more ‘special object’ than data structure
Function objects that can be invoked, but still can exist as singular objects

So lets address the first big question, what’s the difference between Null and Undefined? Null and Undefined are very similar, however Undefined seems to be what most browsers use to indicate something hasn’t been declared or initialized. Null is something that is used when you perhaps want to initialize an object or property, but don’t want it to have a value.

Ok, so how about this Array vs Object thing? First off, Arrays DO have the following properties/methods:


var arr = [];
arr.length;
arr.push
arr.shift;
arr.unshift;
arr.splice;
arr.slice;
arr.pop;
arr.join;
arr.concat;


I won’t get into those here, especially when you have this


However, depending on the browser that you are using, these are not usually the super-efficient data structures that we’re used to. They are still very useful, I just want you to be informed.


Lastly, what this Function thing?


Functions, like I mentioned, can be invoked and have parameters passed to them (they can do a lot more, but I can’t put it all in one post, right?) Essentially a Function is an object that you can create and execute logic inside. You can hang it off of a regular object and make a method (like we’re normally used to) or some other fancy things we’ll get to.


Here’s a decent example of building out a basic object:


var car = {}; //a new object
car.name = "Corvette"; //a string
car.maxSpeed = 155; //a number
car.currentSpeed = null; //initializing to null
car.honk = function(){ //a function
alert("Honk");
};


A couple things you may have noticed so far… creating new objects and arrays.


var arr = [];

//Dont' do
var arr = new Array();

var obj = {};

//Don't do
var obj = new Object();


Use the shorthand and not the “new” keyword for native objects. Its pointless and makes you look like you don’t know what you’re doing.

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