If you put your brackets to the next line, the interpreter assumes that there is a semi-colon.
So your return statement will be interpreted as:
return;
{
printTest: function() { window.alert(message); };
}
If I remember well, i’ve red about this problem in JavaScript: The Good Parts
A.3. Semicolon Insertion
JavaScript has a mechanism that tries to correct faulty programs by automatically inserting semicolons. Do
not depend on this. It can mask more serious errors.
It sometimes inserts semicolons in places where they are not welcome. Consider the consequences of
semicolon insertion on the return statement. If a return statement returns a value, that value expression
must begin on the same line as the return:
return
{
status: true
};
This appears to return an object containing a status member. Unfortunately, semicolon insertion turns it
into a statement that returns undefined. There is no warning that semicolon insertion caused the
misinterpretation of the program. The problem can be avoided if the { is placed at the end of the previous line
and not at the beginning of the next line:
return {
status: true
};
“JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford. Copyright 2008 Yahoo! Inc.,
978-0-596-51774-8.”