Unicode JavaScript Variables and Functions

By  on  

We all get a kick out of unicode symbols, as we all saw in my Unicode CSS Classes post, and just as we can use them for CSS classes, we can use them for JavaScript variables and functions as well!  Let's say you want to shave a few bytes of post-minified JavaScript byes by setting false equal to a variable.  Why not do so by using a unicode variable?

var ಠ_ಠ = false;

if(someVar === ಠ_ಠ) { // If someVar is false...
	// ...
}

Hilarious.  The evil eyes signal a negative result.  What about saving a few byes on true?  The Beatles once said that "All You Need is Love", so let's use a heart:

var ❤ = true;

if(someVar === ❤) {
	// ...
}

You can do the same with function names.  Functions can be named after unicode symbols:

function ಠ(arg) {
	// ...
}

Of course all of this is a bit ... insane, and you should never use unicode symbols, but nonetheless it's possible.  Imagine starting a new job and seeing those symbols as meaningful variables -- you'd quit immediately!  Hilarious!

Recent Features

  • By
    Write Simple, Elegant and Maintainable Media Queries with Sass

    I spent a few months experimenting with different approaches for writing simple, elegant and maintainable media queries with Sass. Each solution had something that I really liked, but I couldn't find one that covered everything I needed to do, so I ventured into creating my...

  • By
    Welcome to My New Office

    My first professional web development was at a small print shop where I sat in a windowless cubical all day. I suffered that boxed in environment for almost five years before I was able to find a remote job where I worked from home. The first...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Font Replacement Using Cufón

    We all know about the big font replacement methods. sIFR's big. Image font replacement has gained some steam. Not too many people know about a great project named Cufón though. Cufón uses a unique blend of a proprietary font generator tool...

  • By
    Comment Preview Using MooTools

    Comment previewing is an awesome addition to any blog. I've seen really simple comment previewing and some really complex comment previewing. The following is a tutorial on creating very basic comment previewing using MooTools. The XHTML You can set up your XHTML any way you'd like.

Discussion

  1. I could see this improving minification when processing files with many variables/methods in the same scope (if they don’t use it already, I’m not sure).

  2. Unicode characters are useless for minification, each unicode character uses 2 bytes instead of 1 in utf8. Also, there is no reason not to use unicode in variable names if you properly declare encoding in your html.

    • Actually, some characters take up to 4 bytes, not just 2. The Kannada letter TTHA in the example rakes 3 bytes for example, so “false” was minified from 5 bytes to 7 :P

  3. lol, it’s a funny joke. but I think it may be realize if some protocol is developed in the future. so cool!

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!