JavaScript: Constructor Auto-Execution with new Keyword
JavaScript is full of small, interesting facets that can trip you up, make you laugh, or make you cry. This post is about an interesting one. Those of you that have worked with JavaScript functions, and in a way JavaScript "classes" (as you used with MooTools), you're well acquainted with the new keyword. With the new keyword you get the ability to pass arguments with the function call, but did you know that if you have no arguments, you don't need the parens at all?
function MyClass() {
console.log('Initialized!');
//Set a property, as an example
this.dirty = true;
}
var instance = new MyClass;
// >> "Initialized!''
So why am I telling you this? I have no idea. It's just one of those fun tidbits that you can add to your brain. :)
![An Interview with Eric Meyer]()
Your early CSS books were instrumental in pushing my love for front end technologies. What was it about CSS that you fell in love with and drove you to write about it?
At first blush, it was the simplicity of it as compared to the table-and-spacer...
![Regular Expressions for the Rest of Us]()
Sooner or later you'll run across a regular expression. With their cryptic syntax, confusing documentation and massive learning curve, most developers settle for copying and pasting them from StackOverflow and hoping they work. But what if you could decode regular expressions and harness their power? In...
![CSS Counters]()
Counters. They were a staple of the Geocities / early web scene that many of us "older" developers grew up with; a feature then, the butt of web jokes now. CSS has implemented its own type of counter, one more sane and straight-forward than the ole...
![JavaScript Speech Recognition]()
Speech recognition software is becoming more and more important; it started (for me) with Siri on iOS, then Amazon's Echo, then my new Apple TV, and so on. Speech recognition is so useful for not just us tech superstars but for people who either want to work "hands...
Amazing how the obvious is sometimes hidden in plain sight. I was going to save the extra () characters but it looks like there’s a micro performance hit in V8.
http://jsperf.com/new-with-and-without-parens
Really? That’s ironic, since Google Closure Compiler actually removes the parentheses when they can be omitted.
That was something I always was curious about but never bothered to ask/look up. I assume the same thing also occurs in php?
I’ll file this next to optional semi-colons and optional closing tags in HTML5: things that are interesting to know, but if I ever see while reviewing someone’s code I might get stabby.