Self invoking function written with 'var name = " in the front - bad practice?

Question

In my knockout.js project I wrote some self invoking functions like this:

var addMarkers = function () {
    ko.utils.arrayForEach(self.sectionList(), function (sectionItem) {
        ko.utils.arrayForEach(sectionItem.placeList(), function (placeItem) {
            placeItem.marker.addListener('click', function () {

                map.panTo(placeItem.marker.getPosition());
            });
        });
    });

}();

The function works without problems, however in JSLint the "var addMarkers" was highlighted as unused variable. That makes me wonder if I should the function like this, or just make anonymous because it is a better practice?:

function addMarkers (){ code to be executed };

Your IIFE doesn't returns anything, so `addMarkers` is `undefined`. — fuyushimoya, Nov 08 '15 at 11:24
So it is wrong way of writing this function, it just simply doesn't make sense? — TheFullResolution, Nov 08 '15 at 11:26
In your code I can't see the necessity to write it in IIFE form, and to your second question `function addMarkers (){ code to be executed };` It would make the stack trace display the function's name instead of `(anonymous function)`, which makes you easier to trace error. Also, from [this](http://stackoverflow.com/a/15336541/1737627), Names are a Good Thing. — fuyushimoya, Nov 08 '15 at 11:30
Do you know why is it wrapped in a function in the first place? — haim770, Nov 08 '15 at 11:54
Good point it doesn't need to be wrapped at all to make it work... However does this way make it easier to trace error? — TheFullResolution, Nov 08 '15 at 12:01

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 08 '15 at 14:26

Assigning the result of a self-executing function is often useful. In particular, I like to define my main viewmodel this way, because

I don't need a prototype for my viewmodel
I'm not likely to need more than one instance of a viewmodel

The reason you would use a self-executing function is that you need a local scope for whatever you're doing, to isolate it from surrounding scope. The reason you would assign a variable from it is that you want it to return a value you will use later. In your example, neither of these is true.

Self invoking function written with 'var name = " in the front - bad practice?

1 Answers1