Question

This may turn out to be a simple question with a very complex answer, or something very simple which I have just missed completely, but, in libraries like Prototype and jQuery etc., how can the $ global variable be an object that contains functions, for example:

$.ajax.get(…);

and also a function itself, like:

$("…");

Any help, even a pointer to a more explanatory Web site would be brilliant, I’m just intrigued!

For example, if I created a function ($), that contained a child object (ajax) like:

var $ = function() {
    this.ajax = {};
    return this;
}; 

I could access the ajax object like $().ajax, but not like $.ajax, how do you get them both?

Answer 1

In JavaScript, functions are Objects, and Objects may have properties, so it’s just another wonderful part of the language!

var f = function(x) { return x; };
f.attr = "a";
f.attr; // => "a"
f(123); // => 123