Thanks Don. I should have tested my prose before posting it. When I
did, I got:
>>> Error: Unbound antecedent on line 1 column 42.
Er, if this is a serious question, in LZX methods free references are
always looked up in `this` first (as they are in Java). We've come
to call that feature 'implicit this'. We regret doing so, because it
is not standard Javascript, and people fall into the trap of leaving
'this' off of left-hand-sides, which is dangerous because unless the
property already exists in `this`, you will write a global.
`with` is a Javascript primitive that can be used to establish
scope. Free variables in the body of a `with` will be looked up
first in the object that is the argument (and then in whatever the
enclosing scope is). Functions close over their scope when they are
defined, so by wrapping `with (_root)` around each global function
definition, free references in functions will be looked up in the
global context (as opposed to the SWF implementation, where global
functions are given a null scope, so when they are called from the
idle context, their free references appear unbound).
On 2006-11-16, at 17:18 EST, Don Hopkins wrote:
Which this is that with? Do away with that? What this is that?
Implicit this? And what's with?
This is in danger of becoming a "who's on first" routine!
-Don
with(_root) is not for implicit this. I agree, we should do away
with that, but it will be a huge flag day. with(_root) is to get
around a swf player 'feature' where global functions have no
environment attached to them, so they can't find their free
references if invoked from the idle loop.
