Question

Possible Duplicate:
If Javascript has first-class functions, why doesn’t this work?

In Chrome, the following produces Uncaught TypeError: Illegal invocation:

g = console.log;
g(1);

Why does this happen, and why can’t I treat console.log like a regular object?

Answer 1

It happens because you’ve lost the reference to console. You’re just calling log directly, with no context. You can call the function in the context of console to make it work:

g.call(console, 1);

Or, to save you from doing that every time, you can bind the function back to the console object:

var g = console.log.bind(console);

References:

• Function.prototype.call
• Function.prototype.apply (not used here, but still of interest)
• Function.prototype.bind