Defining Your Own Functions

This section provides a quick description of how to define your own functions and some basic features of a JavaScript function.

Like many programming languages, JavaScript allows you to define your own functions. JavaScript uses the following syntax format to define a new function:

function function_name(parameter_1, parameter_2, ...) {
   statement_1; 
   statement_2;
   ...
   return return_expression
}

There are 4 areas you need to know in order to define a new function:

A JavaScript function has the following basic features:

A tutorial example will be given in the next section showing your how to define a new function.

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Introduction to JavaScript

 ECMAScript Language Specification and JavaScript Dialects

 Data Types, Variables and Expressions

 Flow Control Statements

 Creating, Accessing, and Manipulating Arrays

Defining and Calling Functions

Defining Your Own Functions

 Defining Your Own Functions - Example

 Calling Your Own Functions - Example

 Passing Parameters by Value or by Reference

 Function Parameters Are Passed as Local Copies

 Function Parameters Are Passed as Local Copies - Example

 Global and Local Variables - Scope Rules

 Global Variables - Examples

 Local Variables - Examples

 Collision of Global and Local Variables - Examples

 "return" Statement and Return Value

 Web Browser Supporting JavaScript

 Server-Side and Client-Side Web Scripting

 Introduction to Objects

 Defining Your Own Object Types

 Inheritance of Properties and Methods through the Prototype Object Chain

 'jrunscript' - JavaScript Shell Command from JDK

 Using Functions as "Function" Objects

 Introduction to Built-in Object Types

 W3C's Document Object Model (DOM) Specifications

 AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML)

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB