Danny, thanks for taking the time to explain this, I'm really grateful
and 1 step closer to jQuery enlightenment.
:)
On Feb 5, 11:14 pm, Danny <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> This is a critical point to "get" to use Javascript effectively. The
> line
> $('.poem-stanza').addClass('emphasized');
> by itself is executed as soon as the interpreter gets to it.
>
> function(){ $('.poem-stanza').addClass('emphasized'); }
> doesn't execute the addClass; it just creates a function that can be
> executed later It's just like writing, somewhere else
> in your code:
>
> function someFunction() { $('.poem-
> stanza').addClass('emphasized'); }
>
> except that the first function doesn't have a name (it's "anonymous").
> It still can be assigned to a variable or passed as
> an argument.
>
> So:
> $(document).ready(function() {
> $('.poem-stanza').addClass('emphasized');
> });
> creates an anonymous function and passes it to the $(document).ready
> function, and $(document).ready keeps the reference to that function
> around until the document is in fact ready, then executes it.
>
> But:
> $(document).ready(
> $('.poem-stanza').addClass('emphasized');
> );
>
> does the $('.poem-stanza').addClass('emphasized'); immediately: it
> finds all elements with class 'poem-stanza' which probably is nothing
> since your script element is probably in the head, before any of the
> body elements have been created, adds the class to whatever it found
> and passes those elements (not a function!) to $(document).ready.
> $(document).ready expects to get a function, not a jQuery object of
> HTML elements, and will probably throw an error.
>
> I think Javascript 2 will have a more elegant way of expressing "a
> block of code to be stored and executed later" but for now we have to
> use function(){...}
>
> HTH,
> Danny
>
> On Feb 5, 9:30 am, Pickledegg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > I'm reading 'learning jQuery'. In this example, and in fact every
> > example, why do you pass a function as an argument.
>
> > $(document).ready(function() {
> > $('.poem-stanza').addClass('emphasized');
>
> > });
>
> > why can't I do this?
>
> > $(document).ready(
> > $('.poem-stanza').addClass('emphasized');
> > );
>
> > Thanks. I'm asking this a learning exercise, so I apologize in advance
> > for the apparent stupidity of it.
