Content
Functions
To define functions we have the instruction function
After this reserved word is placed the name of the function followed by a list of arguments delimited by parentheses and separated by commas
The return statement
The statement return it is the one that allows you to return the result of a function
The example shows a function that returns the area of a square of side l
Properties of the functions
JavaScript associates two properties with each function:
- arguments
it allows the management of the optional parameters - caller
identifies the function that made the call
The property arguments
Is an array that contains the parameters that are passed to the function
In the example we have defined the Sum function to calculate the sum of the numbers passed as arguments
Thus, Sum(4,5,7) returns 16 and Sum(56) returns 56
The caller property
Displays the name of the calling function, so this property will return a string of characters
Considerations to be taken into account
Before you start working with features, you need to consider the following points:
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The JavaScript language does not allow the definitions of nested functions
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The passing of parameters is done by value
That is, if a function modifies the content of its arguments, this modification is local and does not affect either globally or the function made the call
Functions are predefined by the language
Eval function
Has as argument an expression and returns the value of the same
This function is useful to evaluate a string of characters that represents a numeric expression
The issue was effected through a form field is a string of characters that it is sometimes necessary to convert to a numeric value
The following example illustrates how allowing the user to enter a numeric expression you can visualize it as the value of the expression
If you haven't entered anything, you see undefined and if it's not a numerical expression, it doesn't make changes to the visualization
Functions escape and unescape
These two functions allow you to encode strings in URL format
This encoding is necessary in the automatic creation of hypertext links or in the definition of persistent properties as the Cookies
Function isNaN
Function that checks if the value passed for the parameter is numeric or not
The result of this function is a Boolean
That is, it evaluates an argument to see if it is NaN: (Not a Number)
Function parseFloat
Converts a string of characters to a floating-point number
If a non number character is found, the sign '+', '-' or exponent, returns the value found up to that point
Similarly, if the first character cannot be converted to number it will return zero
Function parseInt
Converts a string of characters to an integer number with a specified base
La base puede ser 8, 10 ó 16
If a non number character is found, the sign '+', '-' or exponent, returns the value found up to that point
Similarly, if the first character cannot be converted to number it will return zero