Namespacing Variables - javascript

Question

I see a lot of namespacing examples with functions but, is it o.k. to declare variables (global to my program) in this way?

var mynamespace = {}; mynamespace.var1 = 5;

or should all variables be placed in functions within the namespace?

Answer 1

You should avoid global variables... Use some sort of module pattern instead, e.g.

(function () {
   "use strict";
   var myVar = 'blob';
}());

See http://yuiblog.com/blog/2007/06/12/module-pattern/

EDIT:

More Clarification:

var NS1 = NS1 || {};
NS1.myModule = function () {
        "use strict";
        var myVar = 'blob';
        return  {
            myPublicMethod: function () {
                return myVar;
            }
        };

 }();