Encapsulation in JavaScript

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Yes, that’s correct. It’s called a self invoking anonymous function expression.

JavaScript variables have either function scope, or global scope. There is no block scope. Enclosing your code in a self invoking function like the one in your example creates a temporary local scope for single-use, immediately-run code, without polluting the global namespace.

Consider the following:

<html>
<body>
...
<script>
   (function() { 
      var x = '';

      function myFunction () {
         alert('Hello: ' + x);
      }

      x = 'Bob';
      myFunction();

      alert(typeof x);            // string
      alert(typeof myFunction);   // function
   })();

   alert(typeof x);               // undefined
   alert(typeof myFunction);      // undefined
</script>
<script src="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3597087/other-javascript.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Whatever you declare in that self invoking function is held in a separate scope. The variable x and the function myFunction() cannot be accessed from anywhere else. The code in other-javascript.js won’t see them, for example, and it would be free to declare another function myFunction() without conflicts.

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