Question

I am using the following namespacing pattern:

var MyNamespace = new function () {
    var foo = function () {
        bar();
    };
    var bar = function () {
        alert("bar");
    };
    this.init = function () {
        foo();
    };
};

$(document).ready(function() {
    MyNamespace.init();
});

JSLint complains that bar is used before it’s defined. However foo is not called until after bar has been declared. The code works fine with all the browsers I have tried: http://jsfiddle.net/jDKvz/

The pattern is per How do I declare a namespace in JavaScript?, second answer.

Do I need to fix something here, or should I just ignore JSLint?

Answer 1

I suspect that’s because of hoisting, variables and function declarations are hoisted onto top by the interpreter, it is likely that this is how it sees it:

var MyNamespace = new function () {
    var foo;
    var bar;

    foo = function () {
        bar();
    };

    bar = function () {
        alert("bar");
    };

    this.init = function () {
        foo();
    };
};

Now inside the foo = function () {bar();}; the bar() isn’t yet parsed, it is just a variable bar not a function to be called at that point.

Having said that, if your code works fine, you can go with it, turning strict mode on is also helpful.