Question

I see this used a lot and I was told putting the function reference between quotes was bad because setTimeout/setInterval evals the reference. What is the actual difference between these two such that one is used over the other and why do I see this used so frequently even though it should be common knowledge that this one way is bad?

Answer 1

1. People may not realize they can use the unquoted form.

2. The name referenced in the string may not yet be defined.

3. The quoted form gives you delayed execution:

   setTimeout("myFunction(1, 'hello')", 100)
   

   is easier to understand than:

   setTimeout(function () { myFunction(1, 'hello') }, 100)
   

   and this doesn’t do what the author wants:

   setTimeout(myFunction(1, 'hello'), 100)