setTimeout(): If not defined in EcmaScript spec, where can I learn how it works?

by

setTimeout and such aren’t in the ECMAScript specification because they’re not JavaScript features. They’re features of the browser environment’s window object. Other environments (Windows Scripting Host, NodeJS, etc.) won’t necessarily have those features.

The W3C has been trying to standardize the window object and its various features (including setTimeout), the latest is in the timers section of the HTML5 spec. A lot of it is codifying what browsers already do, although some of it (like saying that the minimum interval value must be 4 [milliseconds]) seems (to me) to be out-of-place for an API specification and implementations seem to make up their own minds (in tests, you can see current browsers happily doing a shorter interval, with the apparent exception of Opera which appears to do what the spec says).

More Related Contents:

  1. Why is bracket notation not working here? [duplicate]
  2. setTimeout in a for loop with array as an argument misbehaving
  3. Why is the method executed immediately when I use setTimeout?
  4. Calling functions with setTimeout()
  5. Chrome: timeouts/interval suspended in background tabs?
  6. Best way to iterate over an array without blocking the UI
  7. What is minimum millisecond value of setTimeout?
  8. Is there ever a good reason to pass a string to setTimeout?
  9. setTimeout ignores timeout? (Fires immediately) [duplicate]
  10. What is setTimeout doing when set to 0 milliseconds?
  11. setTimeout / clearTimeout problems
  12. setInterval in a React app
  13. setInterval/setTimeout return value
  14. find the time left in a setTimeout()?
  15. How do I clear this setInterval inside a function?
  16. Is there a faster way to yield to Javascript event loop than setTimeout(0)?
  17. How many concurrent setTimeouts before performance issues?
  18. How to tell .hover() to wait?
  19. using setTimeout synchronously in JavaScript
  20. Get return value from setTimeout [duplicate]
  21. Is setTimeout with no delay the same as executing the function instantly?
  22. recursive function vs setInterval vs setTimeout javascript
  23. setTimeout not working inside forEach
  24. JQuery, setTimeout not working
  25. Are equal timeouts executed in order in Javascript?
  26. How to use “setTimeout” to invoke object itself
  27. Why does everything display at once, using setTimeout in Javascript?
  28. Can I see if a timer is still running?
  29. Call setTimeout without delay
  30. Will a recursive ‘setTimeout’ function call eventually kill the JS Engine?

Leave a Comment