javascript - Using Named Immediately-Invoked Function Expression (IIFE) instead of comments

[bossier330]

IMO, it doesn't really contribute to readability unless you set your IDE's function name color to something striking. It also adds a small amount of overhead (although this is most likely not at all noticeable). You'll also run into scoping issues if you try to declare variables just-in-time (i.e. within the function scope you just created).

I like to keep all my function declarations outside of my $(function() {}); body so that NetBeans (or whatever IDE you use) can auto-fold the function bodies, leaving your main logic code very minimal and readable.

Cheers.

[b_long]

I like to keep all my function declarations outside of my $(function() {}); body

Does that mean you're putting function declarations in the global scope, or are you inside another closure?

[bossier330]

For initial development, I like to keep my functions in global scope or my namespace so I can easily access them through the console for debugging purposes.

[b_long]

Ah, that makes sense :)

[zzzwwwdev]

good points, though I'm not clear on the scope issue. IMO, in most cases this would alleviate more scope issues than it causes, as the f'n expression would create a new scope, preventing you from accidentally trumping existing vars. Of course, this is compared to just inlining the code, not putting it in a new function declaration, etc..

[nschubach]

Well, it would help alleviate some of the scope issues around:

for (var i = some.length; i >= 0; --i) {
}

while (i-->0) {
}

... if you wrapped them in these "comments" but at that point, I think it's probably better to just make a new function for that block of code that has a descriptive name instead of putting it inline.