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Angus Croll

Personal blog · javascriptweblog.wordpress.comprogrammingweb

Angus Croll writes JavaScript, JavaScript..., a personal blog at javascriptweblog.wordpress.com about programming and web. Since 2010, 64 different Hacker News readers have linked it 98 times, most often “A new JavaScript pattern that saved my project”. The last post was in 2015, but the archive is still widely read.

Visit the blog
98mentions?
2recommend?
64HN people?
2010–2025first – last linked?
Links on Hacker News per year · peak 34 in 2010

Too few sampled comments (13) to say how often HN recommends it.?

Why HN links it

HN readers link Angus Croll's JavaScript blog for explanations of language details such as closures, function declarations versus expressions, typeof, and mixins. One commenter calls it their favourite JS blog.

Recommended for · 2 comments
Called it "hands down my favorite JS blog"; called a post on mixins "awesome".

Summarised by Claude from a sample of 13 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.

by Angus Croll

Most-linked posts?

  1. A new JavaScript pattern that saved my project
    5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2010-12-07
  2. A Fresh Look at JavaScript Mixins
    5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2011-06-03
  3. If Hemingway Wrote JS: Explained
    4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2015-01-11
  4. Function Declarations vs. Function Expressions
    4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2010-07-07
  5. JavaScript Prototypes Made Easy
    3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2010-06-26
  6. JavaScript, JavaScript
    3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-01-06
  7. Understanding JavaScript Closures
    3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2010-10-25
  8. Fixing the JavaScript typeof operator
    3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-08-08
  9. JSON and JSONP
    3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2010-11-29
  10. Does your browser run JavaScript strict mode?
    3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-05-07

What Hacker News says?

  1. I don't understand your contradiction to the parent poster. All JavaScript functions are closures, including anonymous functions that don't reference any lexically-scoped variables, and even named functions at the top level, which close over the global environment[1]. Also, callback functions don't have to be anonymous functions, you can just as easily pass named functions. 1: http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/2…

    Comment linking /2010/10/25/understanding-javascript-closures/

    on “I will not do a tech interview”
  2. Submitted Finally someone makes sense of JavaScript's this keyword as a story · 239 points

    HN discussion
  3. nxn · 2011-10-17Recommends
    http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/ Updates have gotten sort of rare lately, but it is hands down my favorite JS blog.

    Comment linking /

    on “Ask HN: What programming blogs do you read daily?”
  4. Submitted JavaScript Prototypes Made Easy as a story · 131 points

    HN discussion
  5. https://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/fixing-the... tl;dr: Object.prototype.toString.call, you most likely to also want to exclude null, RegExp, Function, Date, Number, Boolean & String (not string)

    Comment linking /2011/08/08/fixing-the-javascript-typeof-operator

    on “Tricks I wish I knew when I learned TypeScript”
  6. Submitted JS.Next Needs You as a story · 70 points

    HN discussion
  7. "If Hemingway Wrote Javascript" ( https://www.nostarch.com/hemingway , see also https://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/if-hemingw... ), in which five short programs are each written in five different styles (all in Javascript). It shows how different programming styles can be used in the same language to solve the same problem. It's unlikely that you'll start writing in the style of Borges or Austen after…

    Comment linking /2015/01/05/if-hemingway-wrote-javascript-explained/

    on “Ask HN: What are some examples of beautiful software?”
  8. Submitted The Secret Life of JavaScript Primitives as a story · 68 points

    HN discussion
  9. karterk · 2012-02-17Recommends
    There is a better way to do the mixins in JS. See this awesome post by Angus Croll: http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/a-fresh-loo... `this` in JS generally incurs a lot of wrath, but this is one cool hack with `this`.

    Comment linking /2011/05/31/a-fresh-look-at-javascript-mixins/

    on “Essential JavaScript Design Patterns For Beginners”
  10. Submitted The JavaScript Comma Operator as a story · 62 points

    HN discussion
  11. Interesting. I stopped touching frameworks on my second year in. It's the same problem I have with trying to develop within the constraints of someone else's work: I find it confusing and anxiety-inducing. I'd rather write my own stuff, unless I'm woefully unequipped to to begin with. (Cryptography, authentification, credit card handling...) I feel like I'd learned quite a bit of JavaScript, specifically – especiall…

    Comment linking /

    on “The melting pot of JavaScript (2017)”
  12. Submitted No ifs...alternatives to statement branching in JavaScript as a story · 57 points

    HN discussion
  13. Yep, it seems it was added on Firefox 22: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe... . It also seems it's the proposal for ES6: http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony:arrow_functio... . This blog post explains the differences between these functions and current functions: http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/javascript-... i wish the unbound "->" alternative is included, so t…

    Comment linking /2012/04/09/javascript-fat-city/;

    on “Chrome 27, Firefox 22, IE10, And Opera Next, Benchmarked”
  14. Submitted JavaScript Mixins for grown-ups as a story · 51 points

    HN discussion
  15. The only other video that sticks out in mine head is this Google Tech Talk by Nicholas Zakas about javascript performance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHtdZgou0qU Besides videos, check out Javascript Garden: http://bonsaiden.github.com/JavaScript-Garden/ Javascript Weblog: http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/ Here are some links over on Quora: http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-resources-for-learnin... The…

    Comment linking /

    on “Ask HN: JavaScript Dev Tools”
  16. Submitted Rethinking JavaScript for-loops as a story · 38 points

    HN discussion
  17. I don't believe so. It sounds like he prefers using function declations to function expressions. And this is incorrect according to most js gurus. For example: http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/function-de... From that link: "b) Function Expressions are more versatile. A Function Declaration can only exist as a “statement” in isolation. All it can do is create an object variable parented by its curren…

    Comment linking /2010/07/06/function-declarations-vs-function-expressions/

    on “Show HN: jQuery.pin – a plugin for making stuff stick”
  18. Submitted "Prototype.js and Mootools did not break the web" as a story · 34 points

    HN discussion
  19. I learned this method with the book JavaScript the Good Parts, though it was a while ago and I can't remember the specific reasoning behind the books' recommendation. From the other commenter's SO link, I found this link to go more in depth into the differences of declaring functions, and it seems to come down to having stricter control on the order of events with no surprises. http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/…

    Comment linking /2010/07/06/function-declarations-vs-function-expressions/

    on “Show HN: jQuery.pin – a plugin for making stuff stick”
  20. Submitted Understanding JavaScript Arrays as a story · 34 points

    HN discussion
  21. Mine is up and running - thanks! http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com

    Comment linking /

    on “Creative Commons announces the "Public Domain Mark"”
  22. Submitted No ifs…alternatives to statement branching in JavaScript as a story · 32 points

    HN discussion
  23. See also https://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/if-hemingw...

    Comment linking /2015/01/05/if-hemingway-wrote-javascript-explained/

    on “Writing code and prose”
  24. Submitted Advanced JavaScript: Compose function as a story · 18 points

    HN discussion
  25. I often use the improved typeof function: http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/fixing-the-... Question: why is the way to determine null considered "very bad"? It works and seems like a valid way, since both empty objects and arrays are truthy, null is the only falsy "object" type.

    Comment linking /2011/08/08/fixing-the-javascript-typeof-operator/

    on “JavaScript - "typeof" operator & null”
  26. Submitted (Really) Understanding JavaScript Prototypes as a story · 14 points

    HN discussion
  27. Submitted JavaScript rapid function definition as a story · 12 points

    HN discussion
  28. Submitted Truth, Equality and JavaScript as a story · 11 points

    HN discussion
  29. Submitted Function Declarations vs. Function Expressions as a story · 10 points

    HN discussion
  30. Submitted A tracer utility in 2kb as a story · 10 points

    HN discussion

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