Question

I am developing a programming language which compiles to javascript, the code generated contains too much repetition, like:

cls.$init = function(){
    this.property1 = {};
    this.anotherProperty = [1, 2, 3, 4];
    this.yetAnotherProperty = "test";
    /* etc */
}

This could be made much smaller (in that case, when initializing many properties), using a with statement:

cls.$init = function(){
    with(this){
        property1 = {};
        anotherProperty = [1, 2, 3, 4];
        yetAnotherProperty = "test";
        /* etc */
    }
}

But the question is… should I use with statements in generated code? (Which is not meant to be modified later)

Answer 1

The with statement is going away in the next ECMAScript standard when using strict mode, so I would get used to not using it.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript/Strict_mode#Simplifying_variable_uses