Question

Why does jslint complain about using this in a declared function?

function navigate() {
    var id = $(this).attr('id');
}

Gives me:

#1 Strict violation.
var id = $(this).attr('id'), // Line 18, Pos 20

Yet jslint gives no complaint about:

var navigate = function () {
    var id = $(this).attr('id');
}

I’m using them both in the same way, and they both work correctly in the browser.

view.on('click', navigate);

FYI, I got around the warning by using event.target instead, but I would like to know what the distinction is.

function navigate(event) {
    var id = $(event.target).attr('id'); // no complaint
}

Answer 1

Have a look at this link:
https://github.com/shichuan/javascript-patterns/blob/master/general-patterns/function-declarations.html

From this excellent reference here:
http://shichuan.github.com/javascript-patterns/

These reasons are provided, but I’m not sure how convincing they are:

1. Makes it easier to understand “functions as an object”.
2. It enforces good semicolon habits.
3. Doesn’t have much of the baggage traditionally associated with functions and scope.

Reasons for “named function expression” on that page are a little more persuasive, but still not overwhelming.

By the way, those appear to come from John Resig (of jQuery fame), as linked here:
http://ejohn.org/blog/javascript-as-a-first-language/