Just like Python, JavaScript tends to create things once you mention them and they don’t yet exist. In my opinion, that’s a bit more harmful than useful, because there’s danger in accidentally creating new variables and values when you assumed it would be already holding a known value. Coming from a C/C++/Java background, I would expect some kind of error for the operation:
<html>
<body onload="testFunction()">
<div id="content"></div>
<script>
function testFunction() {
function Test() {
var somevar=1;
};
var test = new Test();
test.somevar += 10;
document.getElementById("content").innerHTML = ""+test.somevar;
}
</script>
</body>
</html>
In this context, somevar might not exist yet, and still, you’re adding 10 to its value! By printing it is possible to check that this var is a NaN, and no errors are issued. To properly (as I eventually found out by trying) get and set its value, one must create getter and setter functions, to “publicly interface” in other contexts:
<html>
<body onload="testFunction()">
<div id="content"></div>
<script>
function testFunction() {
function Test() {
var somevar=1;
this.getSomevar = function() {
return somevar;
};
this.setSomevar = function(value) {
somevar = value;
};
};
var test = new Test();
test.setSomevar(test.getSomevar() + 10);
document.getElementById("content").innerHTML = ""+test.getSomevar();
}
</script>
</body>
</html>
But hey, be careful when using “this”, its context is related to the current function, not the “class”, as one would think coming from a Java mindset. Using “this” inside class functions can cause undesired effects, such as defining new variables inside the “method” context and again we’ll run into the NaN problem:
<html>
<body onload="testFunction()">
<div id="content"></div>
<script>
function testFunction() {
function Test() {
var somevar=1;
this.getSomevar = function() {
return this.somevar;
};
this.setSomevar = function(value) {
this.somevar = value;
};
};
var test = new Test();
test.setSomevar(test.getSomevar() + 10);
document.getElementById("content").innerHTML = ""+test.getSomevar();
}
</script>
</body>
</html>
Pushed some updates to the game on github. 🙂
Automalia: done it is! 