Question

What are some current “rules of thumb” for implementing JQuery namespaces to host general purpose utility functions?

I have a number of JavaScript utility methods scattered in various files that I’d like to consolidate into one (or more) namespaces. What’s the best way to do this?

I’m currently looking at two different syntaxes, listed in order of preference:

  //******************************
  // JQuery Namespace syntax #1
  //******************************
  if (typeof(MyNamespace) === "undefined")
  {
     MyNamespace = {};
  }

  MyNamespace.SayHello = function ()
  {
     alert("Hello from MyNamespace!");
  }

  MyNamespace.AddEmUp = function (a, b)
  {
     return a + b;
  }

  //******************************
  // JQuery Namespace syntax #2
  //******************************
  if (typeof (MyNamespace2) === "undefined")
  {
     MyNamespace2 =
     {
        SayHello: function ()
        {
           alert("Hello from MyNamespace2!");
        },

        AddEmUp: function (a, b)
        {
           return a + b;
        }
     };
  }

Syntax #1 is more verbose but it seems like it would be easier to maintain down the road. I don’t need to add commas between methods, and I can left align all my functions.

Are there other, better ways to do this?

Answer 1

For the record, I ended up using the first syntax:

$(function ()
{
   //********************************
   // PREDIKT NAMESPACE
   //********************************

   if (typeof (Predikt) === "undefined")
   {
      Predikt = {};
   }

   //********************************
   // PREDIKT.TIMER NAMESPACE
   //********************************

   if (typeof (Predikt.Timer) === "undefined")
   {
      Predikt.Timer = {};
   }

   Predikt.Timer.StartTimer = function ()
   {
      return new Date().getTime();
   };

   Predikt.Timer.EndTimer = function ()
   {
      return new Date().getTime();
   };

});