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JS Questions
Answers to Front-end Job Interview Questions - JS Questions. Pull
requests for suggestions and corrections are welcome!

• Explain event delegation

• Explain how this works in JavaScript
• Explain how prototypal inheritance works
• What do you think of AMD vs CommonJS?
• Explain why the following doesn't work as an IIFE: function foo(){
}(); . What needs to be changed to properly make it an IIFE?

• What's the difference between a variable that is: null , undefined

or undeclared? How would you go about checking for any of these
states?
• What is a closure, and how/why would you use one?
• Can you describe the main difference between a .forEach loop
and a .map() loop and why you would pick one versus the other?
• What's a typical use case for anonymous functions?
• How do you organize your code? (module pattern, classical
inheritance?)
• What's the difference between host objects and native objects?
• Difference between: function Person(){} , var person =
Person() , and var person = new Person() ?
• What's the difference between .call and .apply ?
• Explain Function.prototype.bind .
• When would you use document.write() ?
• What's the difference between feature detection, feature
inference, and using the UA string?
• Explain Ajax in as much detail as possible.
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Ajax?
• Explain how JSONP works (and how it's not really Ajax).
• Have you ever used JavaScript templating? If so, what libraries
have you used?
• Explain "hoisting".
• Describe event bubbling.
• What's the difference between an "attribute" and a "property"?
• Why is extending built-in JavaScript objects not a good idea?
• Difference between document load event and document
DOMContentLoaded event?

• What is the difference between == and === ?

• Explain the same-origin policy with regards to JavaScript.
• Make this work: duplicate([1,2,3,4,5]); //
[1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5]

• Why is it called a Ternary expression, what does the word "Ternary"

indicate?
• What is "use strict";? what are the advantages and disadvantages
to using it?
• Create a for loop that iterates up to 100 while outputting "fizz" at
multiples of 3, "buzz" at multiples of 5 and "fizzbuzz" at multiples
of 3 and 5
• Why is it, in general, a good idea to leave the global scope of a
website as-is and never touch it?
• Why would you use something like the load event? Does this
event have disadvantages? Do you know any alternatives, and why
would you use those?
• Explain what a single page app is and how to make one SEO-
friendly.
• What is the extent of your experience with Promises and/or their
polyfills?
• What are the pros and cons of using Promises instead of
callbacks?
• What are some of the advantages/disadvantages of writing
JavaScript code in a language that compiles to JavaScript?
• What tools and techniques do you use debugging JavaScript
code?
• What language constructions do you use for iterating over object
properties and array items?
• Explain the difference between mutable and immutable objects.
• Explain the difference between synchronous and asynchronous
functions.
• What is event loop? What is the difference between call stack and
task queue?
• Explain the differences on the usage of foo between function
foo() {} and var foo = function() {}

• What are the differences between variables created using let ,

var or const ?

• What are the differences between ES6 class and ES5 function
constructors?
• Can you offer a use case for the new arrow => function syntax?
How does this new syntax differ from other functions?
• What advantage is there for using the arrow syntax for a method
in a constructor?
• What is the definition of a higher-order function?
• Can you give an example for destructuring an object or an array?
• ES6 Template Literals offer a lot of flexibility in generating strings,
can you give an example?
• Can you give an example of a curry function and why this syntax
offers an advantage?
• What are the benefits of using spread syntax and how is it
different from rest syntax?
• How can you share code between files?
• Why you might want to create static class members?
Explain event delegation
Event delegation is a technique involving adding event listeners to a
parent element instead of adding them to the descendant elements.
The listener will fire whenever the event is triggered on the descendant
elements due to event bubbling up the DOM. The benefits of this
technique are:

• Memory footprint goes down because only one single handler is

needed on the parent element, rather than having to attach event
handlers on each descendant.
• There is no need to unbind the handler from elements that are
removed and to bind the event for new elements.

References

• https://davidwalsh.name/event-delegate
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1687296/what-is-dom-
event-delegation

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Explain how this works in JavaScript

There's no simple explanation for this ; it is one of the most confusing

concepts in JavaScript. A hand-wavey explanation is that the value of
this depends on how the function is called. I have read many
explanations on this online, and I found Arnav Aggrawal's
explanation to be the clearest. The following rules are applied:

1. If the new keyword is used when calling the function, this inside
the function is a brand new object.
2. If apply , call , or bind are used to call/create a function, this
inside the function is the object that is passed in as the argument.
3. If a function is called as a method, such as obj.method()  —  this
is the object that the function is a property of.
4. If a function is invoked as a free function invocation, meaning it
was invoked without any of the conditions present above, this is
the global object. In a browser, it is the window object. If in strict
mode ( 'use strict' ), this will be undefined instead of the
global object.
5. If multiple of the above rules apply, the rule that is higher wins
and will set the this value.
6. If the function is an ES2015 arrow function, it ignores all the rules
above and receives the this value of its surrounding scope at the
time it is created.

For an in-depth explanation, do check out his article on Medium.

Can you give an example of one of the ways that working with this
has changed in ES6?

ES6 allows you to use arrow functions which uses the enclosing lexical
scope. This is usually convenient, but does prevent the caller from
controlling context via .call or .apply —the consequences being
that a library such as jQuery will not properly bind this in your event
handler functions. Thus, it's important to keep this in mind when
refactoring large legacy applications.

References

• https://codeburst.io/the-simple-rules-to-this-in-javascript-
35d97f31bde3
• https://stackoverflow.com/a/3127440/1751946

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Explain how prototypal inheritance works

This is an extremely common JavaScript interview question. All
JavaScript objects have a prototype property, that is a reference to
another object. When a property is accessed on an object and if the
property is not found on that object, the JavaScript engine looks at the
object's prototype , and the prototype 's prototype and so on, until it
finds the property defined on one of the prototype s or until it reaches
the end of the prototype chain. This behavior simulates classical
inheritance, but it is really more of delegation than inheritance.

Example of Prototypal Inheritance

We already have a build-in Object.create , but if you were to provide

a polyfill for it, that might look like:
if (typeof Object.create !== 'function') {
Object.create = function (parent) {
function Tmp() {}
Tmp.prototype = parent;
return new Tmp();
};
}

const Parent = function() {

this.name = "Parent";
}

Parent.prototype.greet = function() { console.log("hello from Parent

const child = Object.create(Parent.prototype);

child.cry = function() {
console.log("waaaaaahhhh!");
}

child.cry();
// Outputs: waaaaaahhhh!

child.greet();
// Outputs: hello from Parent

 

Things to note are:

• .greet is not defined on the child, so the engine goes up the

prototype chain and finds .greet off the inherited from Parent.
• We need to call Object.create in one of following ways for the
prototype methods to be inherited:
◦ Object.create(Parent.prototype);
◦ Object.create(new Parent(null));
◦ Object.create(objLiteral);
◦ Currently, child.constructor is pointing to the Parent :

child.constructor
ƒ () {
this.name = "Parent";
}
child.constructor.name
"Parent"
• If we'd like to correct this, one option would be to do:

function Child() {
Parent.call(this);
this.name = 'child';
}

Child.prototype = Parent.prototype;
Child.prototype.constructor = Child;

const c = new Child();

c.cry();
// Outputs: waaaaaahhhh!

c.greet();
// Outputs: hello from Parent

c.constructor.name;
// Outputs: "Child"

References

• https://www.quora.com/What-is-prototypal-
inheritance/answer/Kyle-Simpson
• https://davidwalsh.name/javascript-objects
• https://crockford.com/javascript/prototypal.html
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Inheritance_and_the_prototype_chain

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What do you think of AMD vs CommonJS?

Both are ways to implement a module system, which was not natively
present in JavaScript until ES2015 came along. CommonJS is
synchronous while AMD (Asynchronous Module Definition) is
obviously asynchronous. CommonJS is designed with server-side
development in mind while AMD, with its support for asynchronous
loading of modules, is more intended for browsers.
I find AMD syntax to be quite verbose and CommonJS is closer to the
style you would write import statements in other languages. Most of
the time, I find AMD unnecessary, because if you served all your
JavaScript into one concatenated bundle file, you wouldn't benefit
from the async loading properties. Also, CommonJS syntax is closer to
Node style of writing modules and there is less context-switching
overhead when switching between client side and server side
JavaScript development.

I'm glad that with ES2015 modules, that has support for both
synchronous and asynchronous loading, we can finally just stick to one
approach. Although it hasn't been fully rolled out in browsers and in
Node, we can always use transpilers to convert our code.

References

• https://auth0.com/blog/javascript-module-systems-showdown/
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16521471/relation-between-
commonjs-amd-and-requirejs

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Explain why the following doesn't work as an IIFE:

function foo(){ }(); . What needs to be changed
to properly make it an IIFE?
IIFE stands for Immediately Invoked Function Expressions. The
JavaScript parser reads function foo(){ }(); as function foo(){ }
and (); , where the former is a function declaration and the latter (a
pair of parentheses) is an attempt at calling a function but there is no
name specified, hence it throws Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected
token ) .

Here are two ways to fix it that involves adding more parentheses:
(function foo(){ })() and (function foo(){ }()) . Statements that
begin with function are considered to be function declarations; by
wrapping this function within () , it becomes a function expression
which can then be executed with the subsequent () . These functions
are not exposed in the global scope and you can even omit its name if
you do not need to reference itself within the body.
You might also use void operator: void function foo(){ }(); .
Unfortunately, there is one issue with such approach. The evaluation of
given expression is always undefined , so if your IIFE function returns
anything, you can't use it. An example:

// Don't add JS syntax to this code block to prevent Prettier

from formatting it.
const foo = void function bar() { return 'foo'; }();

console.log(foo); // undefined

References

• http://lucybain.com/blog/2014/immediately-invoked-function-
expression/
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/void

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What's the difference between a variable that is:

null , undefined or undeclared? How would you go
about checking for any of these states?
Undeclared variables are created when you assign a value to an
identifier that is not previously created using var , let or const .
Undeclared variables will be defined globally, outside of the current
scope. In strict mode, a ReferenceError will be thrown when you try to
assign to an undeclared variable. Undeclared variables are bad just like
how global variables are bad. Avoid them at all cost! To check for them,
wrap its usage in a try / catch block.

function foo() {
x = 1; // Throws a ReferenceError in strict mode
}

foo();
console.log(x); // 1
A variable that is undefined is a variable that has been declared, but
not assigned a value. It is of type undefined . If a function does not
return any value as the result of executing it is assigned to a variable,
the variable also has the value of undefined . To check for it, compare
using the strict equality ( === ) operator or typeof which will give the
'undefined' string. Note that you should not be using the abstract
equality operator to check, as it will also return true if the value is
null .

var foo;
console.log(foo); // undefined
console.log(foo === undefined); // true
console.log(typeof foo === 'undefined'); // true

console.log(foo == null); // true. Wrong, don't use this to check!

function bar() {}
var baz = bar();
console.log(baz); // undefined

 

A variable that is null will have been explicitly assigned to the null
value. It represents no value and is different from undefined in the
sense that it has been explicitly assigned. To check for null, simply
compare using the strict equality operator. Note that like the above,
you should not be using the abstract equality operator ( == ) to check,
as it will also return true if the value is undefined .

var foo = null;

console.log(foo === null); // true
console.log(typeof foo === 'object'); // true

console.log(foo == undefined); // true. Wrong, don't use this to check!

 

As a personal habit, I never leave my variables undeclared or

unassigned. I will explicitly assign null to them after declaring if I
don't intend to use it yet. If you use a linter in your workflow, it will
usually also be able to check that you are not referencing undeclared
variables.
References

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15985875/effect-of-
declared-and-undeclared-variables
•
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/
Global_Objects/undefined

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What is a closure, and how/why would you use one?

A closure is the combination of a function and the lexical environment
within which that function was declared. The word "lexical" refers to
the fact that lexical scoping uses the location where a variable is
declared within the source code to determine where that variable is
available. Closures are functions that have access to the outer
(enclosing) function's variables—scope chain even after the outer
function has returned.

Why would you use one?

• Data privacy / emulating private methods with closures.

Commonly used in the module pattern.
• Partial applications or currying.

References

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Closures
• https://medium.com/javascript-scene/master-the-javascript-
interview-what-is-a-closure-b2f0d2152b36

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Can you describe the main difference between a

.forEach loop and a .map() loop and why you
would pick one versus the other?
To understand the differences between the two, let's look at what each
function does.

forEach
• Iterates through the elements in an array.
• Executes a callback for each element.
• Does not return a value.

const a = [1, 2, 3];

const doubled = a.forEach((num, index) => {
// Do something with num and/or index.
});

// doubled = undefined

map

• Iterates through the elements in an array.

• "Maps" each element to a new element by calling the function on
each element, creating a new array as a result.

const a = [1, 2, 3];

const doubled = a.map(num => {
return num * 2;
});

// doubled = [2, 4, 6]

The main difference between .forEach and .map() is that .map()

returns a new array. If you need the result, but do not wish to mutate
the original array, .map() is the clear choice. If you simply need to
iterate over an array, forEach is a fine choice.

References

• https://codeburst.io/javascript-map-vs-foreach-f38111822c0f

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What's a typical use case for anonymous functions?

They can be used in IIFEs to encapsulate some code within a local
scope so that variables declared in it do not leak to the global scope.
(function() {
// Some code here.
})();

As a callback that is used once and does not need to be used anywhere
else. The code will seem more self-contained and readable when
handlers are defined right inside the code calling them, rather than
having to search elsewhere to find the function body.

setTimeout(function() {
console.log('Hello world!');
}, 1000);

Arguments to functional programming constructs or Lodash (similar to

callbacks).

const arr = [1, 2, 3];

const double = arr.map(function(el) {
return el * 2;
});
console.log(double); // [2, 4, 6]

References

• https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-typical-usecase-for-
anonymous-functions
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10273185/what-are-the-
benefits-to-using-anonymous-functions-instead-of-named-
functions-fo

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How do you organize your code? (module pattern,

classical inheritance?)
In the past, I've used Backbone for my models which encourages a
more OOP approach, creating Backbone models and attaching
methods to them.
The module pattern is still great, but these days, I use React/Redux
which utilize a single-directional data flow based on Flux architecture. I
would represent my app's models using plain objects and write utility
pure functions to manipulate these objects. State is manipulated using
actions and reducers like in any other Redux application.

I avoid using classical inheritance where possible. When and if I do, I

stick to these rules.

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What's the difference between host objects and native

objects?
Native objects are objects that are part of the JavaScript language
defined by the ECMAScript specification, such as String , Math ,
RegExp , Object , Function , etc.

Host objects are provided by the runtime environment (browser or

Node), such as window , XMLHTTPRequest , etc.

References

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7614317/what-is-the-
difference-between-native-objects-and-host-objects

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Difference between: function Person(){} , var

person = Person() , and var person = new
Person() ?

This question is pretty vague. My best guess at its intention is that it is

asking about constructors in JavaScript. Technically speaking, function
Person(){} is just a normal function declaration. The convention is to
use PascalCase for functions that are intended to be used as
constructors.
var person = Person() invokes the Person as a function, and not as a
constructor. Invoking as such is a common mistake if the function is
intended to be used as a constructor. Typically, the constructor does
not return anything, hence invoking the constructor like a normal
function will return undefined and that gets assigned to the variable
intended as the instance.

var person = new Person() creates an instance of the Person object

using the new operator, which inherits from Person.prototype . An
alternative would be to use Object.create , such as:
Object.create(Person.prototype) .

function Person(name) {
this.name = name;
}

var person = Person('John');

console.log(person); // undefined
console.log(person.name); // Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'name' of undef

var person = new Person('John');

console.log(person); // Person { name: "John" }
console.log(person.name); // "john"

 

References

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/new

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What's the difference between .call and .apply ?

Both .call and .apply are used to invoke functions and the first
parameter will be used as the value of this within the function.
However, .call takes in comma-separated arguments as the next
arguments while .apply takes in an array of arguments as the next
argument. An easy way to remember this is C for call and comma-
separated and A for apply and an array of arguments.

function add(a, b) {
return a + b;
}

console.log(add.call(null, 1, 2)); // 3
console.log(add.apply(null, [1, 2])); // 3

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Explain Function.prototype.bind .

Taken word-for-word from MDN:

The bind() method creates a new function that, when called, has
its this keyword set to the provided value, with a given
sequence of arguments preceding any provided when the new
function is called.

In my experience, it is most useful for binding the value of this in

methods of classes that you want to pass into other functions. This is
frequently done in React components.

References

•
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/
Global_objects/Function/bind

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When would you use document.write() ?

document.write() writes a string of text to a document stream opened

by document.open() . When document.write() is executed after the
page has loaded, it will call document.open which clears the whole
document ( <head> and <body> removed!) and replaces the contents
with the given parameter value. Hence it is usually considered
dangerous and prone to misuse.
There are some answers online that explain document.write() is being
used in analytics code or when you want to include styles that should
only work if JavaScript is enabled. It is even being used in HTML5
boilerplate to load scripts in parallel and preserve execution order!
However, I suspect those reasons might be outdated and in the
modern day, they can be achieved without using document.write() .
Please do correct me if I'm wrong about this.

References

•
https://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2005/06/three_javascri
p_1.html
• https://github.com/h5bp/html5-boilerplate/wiki/Script-Loading-
Techniques#documentwrite-script-tag

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What's the difference between feature detection,

feature inference, and using the UA string?
Feature Detection

Feature detection involves working out whether a browser supports a

certain block of code, and running different code depending on
whether it does (or doesn't), so that the browser can always provide a
working experience rather crashing/erroring in some browsers. For
example:

if ('geolocation' in navigator) {
// Can use navigator.geolocation
} else {
// Handle lack of feature
}

Modernizr is a great library to handle feature detection.

Feature Inference

Feature inference checks for a feature just like feature detection, but
uses another function because it assumes it will also exist, e.g.:
if (document.getElementsByTagName) {
element = document.getElementById(id);
}

This is not really recommended. Feature detection is more foolproof.

UA String

This is a browser-reported string that allows the network protocol

peers to identify the application type, operating system, software
vendor or software version of the requesting software user agent. It
can be accessed via navigator.userAgent . However, the string is tricky
to parse and can be spoofed. For example, Chrome reports both as
Chrome and Safari. So to detect Safari you have to check for the Safari
string and the absence of the Chrome string. Avoid this method.

References

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Feature_
detection
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20104930/whats-the-
difference-between-feature-detection-feature-inference-and-
using-th
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/HTTP/Browser_detection_using_the_user_agent

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Explain Ajax in as much detail as possible.
Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a set of web development
techniques using many web technologies on the client side to create
asynchronous web applications. With Ajax, web applications can send
data to and retrieve from a server asynchronously (in the background)
without interfering with the display and behavior of the existing page.
By decoupling the data interchange layer from the presentation layer,
Ajax allows for web pages, and by extension web applications, to
change content dynamically without the need to reload the entire
page. In practice, modern implementations commonly substitute use
JSON instead of XML, due to the advantages of JSON being native to
JavaScript.

The XMLHttpRequest API is frequently used for the asynchronous

communication or these days, the fetch API.

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming)
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/AJAX

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What are the advantages and disadvantages of using

Ajax?
Advantages

• Better interactivity. New content from the server can be changed

dynamically without the need to reload the entire page.
• Reduce connections to the server since scripts and stylesheets only
have to be requested once.
• State can be maintained on a page. JavaScript variables and DOM
state will persist because the main container page was not
reloaded.
• Basically most of the advantages of an SPA.

Disadvantages

• Dynamic webpages are harder to bookmark.

• Does not work if JavaScript has been disabled in the browser.
• Some webcrawlers do not execute JavaScript and would not see
content that has been loaded by JavaScript.
• Basically most of the disadvantages of an SPA.

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Explain how JSONP works (and how it's not really Ajax).
JSONP (JSON with Padding) is a method commonly used to bypass the
cross-domain policies in web browsers because Ajax requests from the
current page to a cross-origin domain is not allowed.

JSONP works by making a request to a cross-origin domain via a

<script> tag and usually with a callback query parameter, for
example: https://example.com?callback=printData . The server will
then wrap the data within a function called printData and return it to
the client.

<!-- https://mydomain.com -->

<script>
function printData(data) {
console.log(`My name is ${data.name}!`);
}
</script>

<script src="https://example.com?callback=printData"></script>

// File loaded from https://example.com?callback=printData

printData({ name: 'Yang Shun' });

The client has to have the printData function in its global scope and
the function will be executed by the client when the response from the
cross-origin domain is received.

JSONP can be unsafe and has some security implications. As JSONP is

really JavaScript, it can do everything else JavaScript can do, so you
need to trust the provider of the JSONP data.

These days, CORS is the recommended approach and JSONP is seen as

a hack.
References

• https://stackoverflow.com/a/2067584/1751946

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Have you ever used JavaScript templating? If so, what

libraries have you used?
Yes. Handlebars, Underscore, Lodash, AngularJS, and JSX. I disliked
templating in AngularJS because it made heavy use of strings in the
directives and typos would go uncaught. JSX is my new favorite as it is
closer to JavaScript and there is barely any syntax to learn. Nowadays,
you can even use ES2015 template string literals as a quick way for
creating templates without relying on third-party code.

const template = `<div>My name is: ${name}</div>`;

However, do be aware of a potential XSS in the above approach as the

contents are not escaped for you, unlike in templating libraries.

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Explain "hoisting".
Hoisting is a term used to explain the behavior of variable declarations
in your code. Variables declared or initialized with the var keyword
will have their declaration "moved" up to the top of the current scope,
which we refer to as hoisting. However, only the declaration is hoisted,
the assignment (if there is one), will stay where it is.

Note that the declaration is not actually moved - the JavaScript engine
parses the declarations during compilation and becomes aware of
declarations and their scopes. It is just easier to understand this
behavior by visualizing the declarations as being hoisted to the top of
their scope. Let's explain with a few examples.

// var declarations are hoisted.

console.log(foo); // undefined
var foo = 1;
console.log(foo); // 1

// let/const declarations are NOT hoisted.

console.log(bar); // ReferenceError: bar is not defined
let bar = 2;
console.log(bar); // 2

Function declarations have the body hoisted while the function

expressions (written in the form of variable declarations) only has the
variable declaration hoisted.

// Function Declaration
console.log(foo); // [Function: foo]
foo(); // 'FOOOOO'
function foo() {
console.log('FOOOOO');
}
console.log(foo); // [Function: foo]

// Function Expression
console.log(bar); // undefined
bar(); // Uncaught TypeError: bar is not a function
var bar = function() {
console.log('BARRRR');
};
console.log(bar); // [Function: bar]

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Describe event bubbling.

When an event triggers on a DOM element, it will attempt to handle
the event if there is a listener attached, then the event is bubbled up to
its parent and the same thing happens. This bubbling occurs up the
element's ancestors all the way to the document . Event bubbling is the
mechanism behind event delegation.

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What's the difference between an "attribute" and a

"property"?
Attributes are defined on the HTML markup but properties are defined
on the DOM. To illustrate the difference, imagine we have this text field
in our HTML: <input type="text" value="Hello"> .
const input = document.querySelector('input');
console.log(input.getAttribute('value')); // Hello
console.log(input.value); // Hello

But after you change the value of the text field by adding "World!" to
it, this becomes:

console.log(input.getAttribute('value')); // Hello
console.log(input.value); // Hello World!

References

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6003819/properties-and-
attributes-in-html

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Why is extending built-in JavaScript objects not a good

idea?
Extending a built-in/native JavaScript object means adding
properties/functions to its prototype . While this may seem like a good
idea at first, it is dangerous in practice. Imagine your code uses a few
libraries that both extend the Array.prototype by adding the same
contains method, the implementations will overwrite each other and
your code will break if the behavior of these two methods is not the
same.

The only time you may want to extend a native object is when you
want to create a polyfill, essentially providing your own
implementation for a method that is part of the JavaScript specification
but might not exist in the user's browser due to it being an older
browser.

References

• http://lucybain.com/blog/2014/js-extending-built-in-objects/

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Difference between document load event and
document DOMContentLoaded event?

The DOMContentLoaded event is fired when the initial HTML document

has been completely loaded and parsed, without waiting for
stylesheets, images, and subframes to finish loading.

window 's load event is only fired after the DOM and all dependent
resources and assets have loaded.

References

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/Events/DOMContentLoaded
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Events/load

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What is the difference between == and === ?

== is the abstract equality operator while === is the strict equality

operator. The == operator will compare for equality after doing any
necessary type conversions. The === operator will not do type
conversion, so if two values are not the same type === will simply
return false . When using == , funky things can happen, such as:

1 == '1'; // true
1 == [1]; // true
1 == true; // true
0 == ''; // true
0 == '0'; // true
0 == false; // true

My advice is never to use the == operator, except for convenience

when comparing against null or undefined , where a == null will
return true if a is null or undefined .

var a = null;
console.log(a == null); // true
console.log(a == undefined); // true
References

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/359494/which-equals-
operator-vs-should-be-used-in-javascript-comparisons

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Explain the same-origin policy with regards to

JavaScript.
The same-origin policy prevents JavaScript from making requests
across domain boundaries. An origin is defined as a combination of
URI scheme, hostname, and port number. This policy prevents a
malicious script on one page from obtaining access to sensitive data
on another web page through that page's Document Object Model.

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-origin_policy

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Make this work:

duplicate([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]); // [1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5]

function duplicate(arr) {
return arr.concat(arr);
}

duplicate([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]); // [1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5]

Or with ES6:

const duplicate = (arr) => [...arr, ...arr];

duplicate([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]); // [1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5]

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Why is it called a Ternary expression, what does the
word "Ternary" indicate?
"Ternary" indicates three, and a ternary expression accepts three
operands, the test condition, the "then" expression and the "else"
expression. Ternary expressions are not specific to JavaScript and I'm
not sure why it is even in this list.

References

•
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/
Operators/Conditional_Operator

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What is "use strict"; ? What are the advantages

and disadvantages to using it?
'use strict' is a statement used to enable strict mode to entire scripts or
individual functions. Strict mode is a way to opt into a restricted variant
of JavaScript.

Advantages:

• Makes it impossible to accidentally create global variables.

• Makes assignments which would otherwise silently fail to throw an
exception.
• Makes attempts to delete undeletable properties throw (where
before the attempt would simply have no effect).
• Requires that function parameter names be unique.
• this is undefined in the global context.
• It catches some common coding bloopers, throwing exceptions.
• It disables features that are confusing or poorly thought out.

Disadvantages:

• Many missing features that some developers might be used to.

• No more access to function.caller and function.arguments .
• Concatenation of scripts written in different strict modes might
cause issues.
Overall, I think the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, and I never
had to rely on the features that strict mode blocks. I would recommend
using strict mode.

References

• http://2ality.com/2011/10/strict-mode-hatred.html
• http://lucybain.com/blog/2014/js-use-strict/

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Create a for loop that iterates up to 100 while

outputting "fizz" at multiples of 3 , "buzz" at multiples
of 5 and "fizzbuzz" at multiples of 3 and 5 .

Check out this version of FizzBuzz by Paul Irish.

for (let i = 1; i <= 100; i++) {

let f = i % 3 == 0,
b = i % 5 == 0;
console.log(f ? (b ? 'FizzBuzz' : 'Fizz') : b ? 'Buzz' : i);
}

I would not advise you to write the above during interviews though.
Just stick with the long but clear approach. For more wacky versions of
FizzBuzz, check out the reference link below.

References

• https://gist.github.com/jaysonrowe/1592432

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Why is it, in general, a good idea to leave the global

scope of a website as-is and never touch it?
Every script has access to the global scope, and if everyone uses the
global namespace to define their variables, collisions will likely occur.
Use the module pattern (IIFEs) to encapsulate your variables within a
local namespace.

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Why would you use something like the load event?
Does this event have disadvantages? Do you know any
alternatives, and why would you use those?
The load event fires at the end of the document loading process. At
this point, all of the objects in the document are in the DOM, and all
the images, scripts, links and sub-frames have finished loading.

The DOM event DOMContentLoaded will fire after the DOM for the page
has been constructed, but do not wait for other resources to finish
loading. This is preferred in certain cases when you do not need the full
page to be loaded before initializing.

TODO.

References

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/API/GlobalEventHandlers/onload

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Explain what a single page app is and how to make one

SEO-friendly.
The below is taken from the awesome Grab Front End Guide, which
coincidentally, is written by me!

Web developers these days refer to the products they build as web
apps, rather than websites. While there is no strict difference between
the two terms, web apps tend to be highly interactive and dynamic,
allowing the user to perform actions and receive a response to their
action. Traditionally, the browser receives HTML from the server and
renders it. When the user navigates to another URL, a full-page refresh
is required and the server sends fresh new HTML to the new page. This
is called server-side rendering.
However, in modern SPAs, client-side rendering is used instead. The
browser loads the initial page from the server, along with the scripts
(frameworks, libraries, app code) and stylesheets required for the
whole app. When the user navigates to other pages, a page refresh is
not triggered. The URL of the page is updated via the HTML5 History
API. New data required for the new page, usually in JSON format, is
retrieved by the browser via AJAX requests to the server. The SPA then
dynamically updates the page with the data via JavaScript, which it has
already downloaded in the initial page load. This model is similar to
how native mobile apps work.

The benefits:

• The app feels more responsive and users do not see the flash
between page navigations due to full-page refreshes.
• Fewer HTTP requests are made to the server, as the same assets
do not have to be downloaded again for each page load.
• Clear separation of the concerns between the client and the server;
you can easily build new clients for different platforms (e.g.
mobile, chatbots, smart watches) without having to modify the
server code. You can also modify the technology stack on the
client and server independently, as long as the API contract is not
broken.

The downsides:

• Heavier initial page load due to the loading of framework, app

code, and assets required for multiple pages.
• There's an additional step to be done on your server which is to
configure it to route all requests to a single entry point and allow
client-side routing to take over from there.
• SPAs are reliant on JavaScript to render content, but not all search
engines execute JavaScript during crawling, and they may see
empty content on your page. This inadvertently hurts the Search
Engine Optimization (SEO) of your app. However, most of the
time, when you are building apps, SEO is not the most important
factor, as not all the content needs to be indexable by search
engines. To overcome this, you can either server-side render your
app or use services such as Prerender to "render your javascript in
a browser, save the static HTML, and return that to the crawlers".
References

• https://github.com/grab/front-end-guide#single-page-apps-spas
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21862054/single-page-app-
advantages-and-disadvantages
• http://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/presentations/2016-10-
revolution-of-web-dev/
• https://medium.freecodecamp.com/heres-why-client-side-
rendering-won-46a349fadb52

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What is the extent of your experience with Promises

and/or their polyfills?
Possess working knowledge of it. A promise is an object that may
produce a single value sometime in the future: either a resolved value
or a reason that it's not resolved (e.g., a network error occurred). A
promise may be in one of 3 possible states: fulfilled, rejected, or
pending. Promise users can attach callbacks to handle the fulfilled
value or the reason for rejection.

Some common polyfills are $.deferred , Q and Bluebird but not all of
them comply with the specification. ES2015 supports Promises out of
the box and polyfills are typically not needed these days.

References

• https://medium.com/javascript-scene/master-the-javascript-
interview-what-is-a-promise-27fc71e77261

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What are the pros and cons of using Promises instead

of callbacks?
Pros

• Avoid callback hell which can be unreadable.

• Makes it easy to write sequential asynchronous code that is
readable with .then() .
• Makes it easy to write parallel asynchronous code with
Promise.all() .

• With promises, these scenarios which are present in callbacks-only

coding, will not happen:
◦ Call the callback too early
◦ Call the callback too late (or never)
◦ Call the callback too few or too many times
◦ Fail to pass along any necessary environment/parameters
◦ Swallow any errors/exceptions that may happen

Cons

• Slightly more complex code (debatable).

• In older browsers where ES2015 is not supported, you need to
load a polyfill in order to use it.

References

• https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-
JS/blob/master/async%20%26%20performance/ch3.md

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What are some of the advantages/disadvantages of

writing JavaScript code in a language that compiles to
JavaScript?
Some examples of languages that compile to JavaScript include
CoffeeScript, Elm, ClojureScript, PureScript, and TypeScript.

Advantages:

• Fixes some of the longstanding problems in JavaScript and

discourages JavaScript anti-patterns.
• Enables you to write shorter code, by providing some syntactic
sugar on top of JavaScript, which I think ES5 lacks, but ES2015 is
awesome.
• Static types are awesome (in the case of TypeScript) for large
projects that need to be maintained over time.

Disadvantages:
• Require a build/compile process as browsers only run JavaScript
and your code will need to be compiled into JavaScript before
being served to browsers.
• Debugging can be a pain if your source maps do not map nicely
to your pre-compiled source.
• Most developers are not familiar with these languages and will
need to learn it. There's a ramp up cost involved for your team if
you use it for your projects.
• Smaller community (depends on the language), which means
resources, tutorials, libraries, and tooling would be harder to find.
• IDE/editor support might be lacking.
• These languages will always be behind the latest JavaScript
standard.
• Developers should be cognizant of what their code is being
compiled to — because that is what would actually be running, and
that is what matters in the end.

Practically, ES2015 has vastly improved JavaScript and made it much

nicer to write. I don't really see the need for CoffeeScript these days.

References

•
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/72569/
what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-coffeescript

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What tools and techniques do you use for debugging

JavaScript code?
• React and Redux
◦ React Devtools
◦ Redux Devtools
• Vue
◦ Vue Devtools
• JavaScript
◦ Chrome Devtools
◦ debugger statement
◦ Good old console.log debugging
References

• https://hackernoon.com/twelve-fancy-chrome-devtools-tips-
dc1e39d10d9d
• https://raygun.com/blog/javascript-debugging/

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What language constructions do you use for iterating

over object properties and array items?
For objects:

• for-in loops - for (var property in obj) {

console.log(property); } . However, this will also iterate through
its inherited properties, and you will add an
obj.hasOwnProperty(property) check before using it.

• Object.keys() - Object.keys(obj).forEach(function (property)

{ ... }) . Object.keys() is a static method that will lists all
enumerable properties of the object that you pass it.
• Object.getOwnPropertyNames() -
Object.getOwnPropertyNames(obj).forEach(function (property) {
... }) . Object.getOwnPropertyNames() is a static method that will
lists all enumerable and non-enumerable properties of the object
that you pass it.

For arrays:

• for loops - for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) . The

common pitfall here is that var is in the function scope and not
the block scope and most of the time you would want block
scoped iterator variable. ES2015 introduces let which has block
scope and it is recommended to use that instead. So this becomes:
for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) .

• forEach - arr.forEach(function (el, index) { ... }) . This

construct can be more convenient at times because you do not
have to use the index if all you need is the array elements. There
are also the every and some methods which will allow you to
terminate the iteration early.
• for-of loops - for (let elem of arr) { ... } . ES6 introduces a
new loop, the for-of loop, that allows you to loop over objects
that conform to the iterable protocol such as String , Array ,
Map , Set , etc. It combines the advantages of the for loop and
the forEach() method. The advantage of the for loop is that
you can break from it, and the advantage of forEach() is that it is
more concise than the for loop because you don't need a
counter variable. With the for-of loop, you get both the ability to
break from a loop and a more concise syntax.

Most of the time, I would prefer the .forEach method, but it really
depends on what you are trying to do. Before ES6, we used for loops
when we needed to prematurely terminate the loop using break . But
now with ES6, we can do that with for-of loops. I would use for
loops when I need even more flexibility, such as incrementing the
iterator more than once per loop.

Also, when using the for-of loop, if you need to access both the
index and value of each array element, you can do so with the ES6
Array entries() method and destructuring:

const arr = ['a', 'b', 'c'];

for (let [index, elem] of arr.entries()) {

console.log(index, ': ', elem);
}

References

• http://2ality.com/2015/08/getting-started-es6.html#from-for-to-
foreach-to-for-of
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/entries

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Explain the difference between mutable and

immutable objects.
Immutability is a core principle in functional programming, and has lots
to offer to object-oriented programs as well. A mutable object is an
object whose state can be modified after it is created. An immutable
object is an object whose state cannot be modified after it is created.
What is an example of an immutable object in JavaScript?

In JavaScript, some built-in types (numbers, strings) are immutable, but

custom objects are generally mutable.

Some built-in immutable JavaScript objects are Math , Date .

Here are a few ways to add/simulate immutability on plain JavaScript

objects.

Object Constant Properties

By combining writable: false and configurable: false , you can

essentially create a constant (cannot be changed, redefined or deleted)
as an object property, like:

let myObject = {};

Object.defineProperty(myObject, 'number', {
value: 42,
writable: false,
configurable: false,
});
console.log(myObject.number); // 42
myObject.number = 43;
console.log(myObject.number); // 42

Prevent Extensions

If you want to prevent an object from having new properties added to

it, but otherwise leave the rest of the object's properties alone, call
Object.preventExtensions(...) :

var myObject = {
a: 2
};

Object.preventExtensions(myObject);

myObject.b = 3;
myObject.b; // undefined

In non-strict mode, the creation of b fails silently. In strict mode, it

throws a TypeError .
Seal

Object.seal() creates a "sealed" object, which means it takes an

existing object and essentially calls Object.preventExtensions() on it,
but also marks all its existing properties as configurable: false .

So, not only can you not add any more properties, but you also cannot
reconfigure or delete any existing properties (though you can still
modify their values).

Freeze

Object.freeze() creates a frozen object, which means it takes an

existing object and essentially calls Object.seal() on it, but it also
marks all "data accessor" properties as writable:false, so that their
values cannot be changed.

This approach is the highest level of immutability that you can attain
for an object itself, as it prevents any changes to the object or to any of
its direct properties (though, as mentioned above, the contents of any
referenced other objects are unaffected).

var immutable = Object.freeze({});

Freezing an object does not allow new properties to be added to an

object and prevents from removing or altering the existing properties.
Object.freeze() preserves the enumerability, configurability,
writability and the prototype of the object. It returns the passed object
and does not create a frozen copy.

What are the pros and cons of immutability?

Pros

• Easier change detection - Object equality can be determined in a

performant and easy manner through referential equality. This is
useful for comparing object differences in React and Redux.
• Programs with immutable objects are less complicated to think
about, since you don't need to worry about how an object may
evolve over time.
• Defensive copies are no longer necessary when immutable objects
are returning from or passed to functions, since there is no
possibility an immutable object will be modified by it.
• Easy sharing via references - One copy of an object is just as good
as another, so you can cache objects or reuse the same object
multiple times.
• Thread-safe - Immutable objects can be safely used between
threads in a multi-threaded environment since there is no risk of
them being modified in other concurrently running threads.
• Using libraries like ImmmutableJS, objects are modified using
structural sharing and less memory is needed for having multiple
objects with similar structures.

Cons

• Naive implementations of immutable data structures and its

operations can result in extremely poor performance because new
objects are created each time. It is recommended to use libraries
for efficient immutable data structures and operations that
leverage on structural sharing.
• Allocation (and deallocation) of many small objects rather than
modifying existing ones can cause a performance impact. The
complexity of either the allocator or the garbage collector usually
depends on the number of objects on the heap.
• Cyclic data structures such as graphs are difficult to build. If you
have two objects which can't be modified after initialization, how
can you get them to point to each other?

References

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1863515/pros-cons-of-
immutability-vs-mutability

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How can you achieve immutability in your own code?

One way to achieve immutability is to use libraries like immutable.js,

mori or immer.
The alternative is to use const declarations combined with the
techniques mentioned above for creation. For "mutating" objects, use
the spread operator, Object.assign , Array.concat() , etc., to create
new objects instead of mutate the original object.

Examples:

// Array Example
const arr = [1, 2, 3];
const newArr = [...arr, 4]; // [1, 2, 3, 4]

// Object Example
const human = Object.freeze({race: 'human'});
const john = { ...human, name: 'John' }; // {race: "human", name: "John"}
const alienJohn = { ...john, race: 'alien' }; // {race: "alien", name: "John"}

 

References

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1863515/pros-cons-of-
immutability-vs-mutability
• https://www.sitepoint.com/immutability-javascript/
• https://wecodetheweb.com/2016/02/12/immutable-javascript-
using-es6-and-beyond/

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Explain the difference between synchronous and

asynchronous functions.
Synchronous functions are blocking while asynchronous functions are
not. In synchronous functions, statements complete before the next
statement is run. In this case, the program is evaluated exactly in order
of the statements and execution of the program is paused if one of the
statements take a very long time.
Asynchronous functions usually accept a callback as a parameter and
execution continue on the next line immediately after the
asynchronous function is invoked. The callback is only invoked when
the asynchronous operation is complete and the call stack is empty.
Heavy duty operations such as loading data from a web server or
querying a database should be done asynchronously so that the main
thread can continue executing other operations instead of blocking
until that long operation to complete (in the case of browsers, the UI
will freeze).

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What is event loop? What is the difference between

call stack and task queue?
The event loop is a single-threaded loop that monitors the call stack
and checks if there is any work to be done in the task queue. If the call
stack is empty and there are callback functions in the task queue, a
function is dequeued and pushed onto the call stack to be executed.

If you haven't already checked out Philip Robert's talk on the Event
Loop, you should. It is one of the most viewed videos on JavaScript.

References

• https://2014.jsconf.eu/speakers/philip-roberts-what-the-heck-is-
the-event-loop-anyway.html
• http://theproactiveprogrammer.com/javascript/the-javascript-
event-loop-a-stack-and-a-queue/

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Explain the differences on the usage of foo between
function foo() {} and var foo = function()
{}

The former is a function declaration while the latter is a function

expression. The key difference is that function declarations have its
body hoisted but the bodies of function expressions are not (they have
the same hoisting behavior as variables). For more explanation on
hoisting, refer to the question above on hoisting. If you try to invoke a
function expression before it is defined, you will get an Uncaught
TypeError: XXX is not a function error.

Function Declaration

foo(); // 'FOOOOO'
function foo() {
console.log('FOOOOO');
}

Function Expression

foo(); // Uncaught TypeError: foo is not a function

var foo = function() {
console.log('FOOOOO');
};

References

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements/function

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What are the differences between variables created

using let , var or const ?

Variables declared using the var keyword are scoped to the function
in which they are created, or if created outside of any function, to the
global object. let and const are block scoped, meaning they are only
accessible within the nearest set of curly braces (function, if-else block,
or for-loop).
function foo() {
// All variables are accessible within functions.
var bar = 'bar';
let baz = 'baz';
const qux = 'qux';

console.log(bar); // bar
console.log(baz); // baz
console.log(qux); // qux
}

console.log(bar); // ReferenceError: bar is not defined

console.log(baz); // ReferenceError: baz is not defined
console.log(qux); // ReferenceError: qux is not defined

if (true) {
var bar = 'bar';
let baz = 'baz';
const qux = 'qux';
}

// var declared variables are accessible anywhere in the function scope.

console.log(bar); // bar
// let and const defined variables are not accessible outside of the block they were
console.log(baz); // ReferenceError: baz is not defined
console.log(qux); // ReferenceError: qux is not defined

 

var allows variables to be hoisted, meaning they can be referenced in

code before they are declared. let and const will not allow this,
instead throwing an error.

console.log(foo); // undefined

var foo = 'foo';

console.log(baz); // ReferenceError: can't access lexical declaration 'baz' before in

let baz = 'baz';

console.log(bar); // ReferenceError: can't access lexical declaration 'bar' before in

const bar = 'bar';

 
Redeclaring a variable with var will not throw an error, but 'let' and
'const' will.

var foo = 'foo';

var foo = 'bar';
console.log(foo); // "bar"

let baz = 'baz';

let baz = 'qux'; // Uncaught SyntaxError: Identifier 'baz' has already been declared

 

let and const differ in that let allows reassigning the variable's
value while const does not.

// This is fine.
let foo = 'foo';
foo = 'bar';

// This causes an exception.

const baz = 'baz';
baz = 'qux';

References

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements/let
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements/var
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements/const

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What are the differences between ES6 class and ES5

function constructors?
Let's first look at example of each:

// ES5 Function Constructor

function Person(name) {
this.name = name;
}
// ES6 Class
class Person {
constructor(name) {
this.name = name;
}
}

For simple constructors, they look pretty similar.

The main difference in the constructor comes when using inheritance.

If we want to create a Student class that subclasses Person and add a
studentId field, this is what we have to do in addition to the above.

// ES5 Function Constructor

function Student(name, studentId) {
// Call constructor of superclass to initialize superclass-derived members.
Person.call(this, name);

// Initialize subclass's own members.

this.studentId = studentId;
}

Student.prototype = Object.create(Person.prototype);
Student.prototype.constructor = Student;

// ES6 Class
class Student extends Person {
constructor(name, studentId) {
super(name);
this.studentId = studentId;
}
}

 

It's much more verbose to use inheritance in ES5 and the ES6 version is
easier to understand and remember.

References

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Inheritance
• https://eli.thegreenplace.net/2013/10/22/classical-inheritance-in-
javascript-es5

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Can you offer a use case for the new arrow => function
syntax? How does this new syntax differ from other
functions?
One obvious benefit of arrow functions is to simplify the syntax needed
to create functions, without a need for the function keyword. The
this within arrow functions is also bound to the enclosing scope
which is different compared to regular functions where the this is
determined by the object calling it. Lexically-scoped this is useful
when invoking callbacks especially in React components.

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What advantage is there for using the arrow syntax for

a method in a constructor?
The main advantage of using an arrow function as a method inside a
constructor is that the value of this gets set at the time of the
function creation and can't change after that. So, when the constructor
is used to create a new object, this will always refer to that object.
For example, let's say we have a Person constructor that takes a first
name as an argument has two methods to console.log that name,
one as a regular function and one as an arrow function:

const Person = function(firstName) {

this.firstName = firstName;
this.sayName1 = function() { console.log(this.firstName); };
this.sayName2 = () => { console.log(this.firstName); };
};

const john = new Person('John');

const dave = new Person('Dave');

john.sayName1(); // John
john.sayName2(); // John

// The regular function can have its 'this' value changed, but the arrow function can
john.sayName1.call(dave); // Dave (because "this" is now the dave object)
john.sayName2.call(dave); // John

john.sayName1.apply(dave); // Dave (because 'this' is now the dave object)

john.sayName2.apply(dave); // John

john.sayName1.bind(dave)(); // Dave (because 'this' is now the dave object)

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john.sayName2.bind(dave)(); // John

var sayNameFromWindow1 = john.sayName1;

sayNameFromWindow1(); // undefined (because 'this' is now the window object)

var sayNameFromWindow2 = john.sayName2;

sayNameFromWindow2(); // John
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The main takeaway here is that this can be changed for a normal
function, but the context always stays the same for an arrow function.
So even if you are passing around your arrow function to different
parts of your application, you wouldn't have to worry about the
context changing.

This can be particularly helpful in React class components. If you define

a class method for something such as a click handler using a normal
function, and then you pass that click handler down into a child
component as a prop, you will need to also bind this in the
constructor of the parent component. If you instead use an arrow
function, there is no need to also bind "this", as the method will
automatically get its "this" value from its enclosing lexical context. (See
this article for an excellent demonstration and sample code:
https://medium.com/@machnicki/handle-events-in-react-with-arrow-
functions-ede88184bbb)

References

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Functions/Arrow_functions
• https://medium.com/@machnicki/handle-events-in-react-with-
arrow-functions-ede88184bbb

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What is the definition of a higher-order function?
A higher-order function is any function that takes one or more
functions as arguments, which it uses to operate on some data, and/or
returns a function as a result. Higher-order functions are meant to
abstract some operation that is performed repeatedly. The classic
example of this is map , which takes an array and a function as
arguments. map then uses this function to transform each item in the
array, returning a new array with the transformed data. Other popular
examples in JavaScript are forEach , filter , and reduce . A higher-
order function doesn't just need to be manipulating arrays as there are
many use cases for returning a function from another function.
Function.prototype.bind is one such example in JavaScript.

Map

Let say we have an array of names which we need to transform each

string to uppercase.

const names = ['irish', 'daisy', 'anna'];

The imperative way will be as such:

const transformNamesToUppercase = function(names) {

const results = [];
for (let i = 0; i < names.length; i++) {
results.push(names[i].toUpperCase());
}
return results;
};
transformNamesToUppercase(names); // ['IRISH', 'DAISY', 'ANNA']

Use .map(transformerFn) makes the code shorter and more

declarative.

const transformNamesToUppercase = function(names) {

return names.map(name => name.toUpperCase());
};
transformNamesToUppercase(names); // ['IRISH', 'DAISY', 'ANNA']
References

• https://medium.com/javascript-scene/higher-order-functions-
composing-software-5365cf2cbe99
• https://hackernoon.com/effective-functional-javascript-first-class-
and-higher-order-functions-713fde8df50a
• https://eloquentjavascript.net/05_higher_order.html

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Can you give an example for destructuring an object or

an array?
Destructuring is an expression available in ES6 which enables a succinct
and convenient way to extract values of Objects or Arrays and place
them into distinct variables.

Array destructuring

// Variable assignment.
const foo = ['one', 'two', 'three'];

const [one, two, three] = foo;

console.log(one); // "one"
console.log(two); // "two"
console.log(three); // "three"

// Swapping variables
let a = 1;
let b = 3;

[a, b] = [b, a];

console.log(a); // 3
console.log(b); // 1

Object destructuring

// Variable assignment.
const o = { p: 42, q: true };
const { p, q } = o;

console.log(p); // 42
console.log(q); // true
References

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Destructuring_assig
nment
• https://ponyfoo.com/articles/es6-destructuring-in-depth

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ES6 Template Literals offer a lot of flexibility in

generating strings, can you give an example?
Template literals help make it simple to do string interpolation, or to
include variables in a string. Before ES2015, it was common to do
something like this:

var person = { name: 'Tyler', age: 28 };

console.log('Hi, my name is ' + person.name + ' and I am ' + person
// 'Hi, my name is Tyler and I am 28 years old!'

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With template literals, you can now create that same output like this
instead:

const person = { name: 'Tyler', age: 28 };

console.log(`Hi, my name is ${person.name} and I am ${person.age}
// 'Hi, my name is Tyler and I am 28 years old!'

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Note that you use backticks, not quotes, to indicate that you are using
a template literal and that you can insert expressions inside the ${}
placeholders.

A second helpful use case is in creating multi-line strings. Before

ES2015, you could create a multi-line string like this:

console.log('This is line one.\nThis is line two.');

// This is line one.
// This is line two.
Or if you wanted to break it up into multiple lines in your code so you
didn't have to scroll to the right in your text editor to read a long
string, you could also write it like this:

console.log('This is line one.\n' +

'This is line two.');
// This is line one.
// This is line two.

Template literals, however, preserve whatever spacing you add to them.

For example, to create that same multi-line output that we created
above, you can simply do:

console.log(`This is line one.

This is line two.`);
// This is line one.
// This is line two.

Another use case of template literals would be to use as a substitute

for templating libraries for simple variable interpolations:

const person = { name: 'Tyler', age: 28 };

document.body.innerHTML = `
<div>
<p>Name: ${person.name}</p>
<p>Name: ${person.age}</p>
</div>
`

Note that your code may be susceptible to XSS by using .innerHTML .

Sanitize your data before displaying it if it came from a user!

References

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Template_literals

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Can you give an example of a curry function and why
this syntax offers an advantage?
Currying is a pattern where a function with more than one parameter is
broken into multiple functions that, when called in series, will
accumulate all of the required parameters one at a time. This technique
can be useful for making code written in a functional style easier to
read and compose. It's important to note that for a function to be
curried, it needs to start out as one function, then broken out into a
sequence of functions that each accepts one parameter.

function curry(fn) {
if (fn.length === 0) {
return fn;
}

function _curried(depth, args) {

return function(newArgument) {
if (depth - 1 === 0) {
return fn(...args, newArgument);
}
return _curried(depth - 1, [...args, newArgument]);
};
}

return _curried(fn.length, []);

}

function add(a, b) {
return a + b;
}

var curriedAdd = curry(add);

var addFive = curriedAdd(5);

var result = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5].map(addFive); // [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

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References

• https://hackernoon.com/currying-in-js-d9ddc64f162e

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What are the benefits of using spread syntax and how
is it different from rest syntax?
ES6's spread syntax is very useful when coding in a functional
paradigm as we can easily create copies of arrays or objects without
resorting to Object.create , slice , or a library function. This
language feature is used often in Redux and RxJS projects.

function putDookieInAnyArray(arr) {
return [...arr, 'dookie'];
}

const result = putDookieInAnyArray(['I', 'really', "don't", 'like

const person = {
name: 'Todd',
age: 29,
};

const copyOfTodd = { ...person };

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ES6's rest syntax offers a shorthand for including an arbitrary number

of arguments to be passed to a function. It is like an inverse of the
spread syntax, taking data and stuffing it into an array rather than
unpacking an array of data, and it works in function arguments, as well
as in array and object destructuring assignments.

function addFiveToABunchOfNumbers(...numbers) {
return numbers.map(x => x + 5);
}

const result = addFiveToABunchOfNumbers(4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10); //

const [a, b, ...rest] = [1, 2, 3, 4]; // a: 1, b: 2, rest: [3, 4]

const { e, f, ...others } = {
e: 1,
f: 2,
g: 3,
h: 4,
}; // e: 1, f: 2, others: { g: 3, h: 4 }

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References

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Spread_syntax
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Functions/rest_parameters
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Destructuring_assig
nment

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How can you share code between files?

This depends on the JavaScript environment.

On the client (browser environment), as long as the variables/functions

are declared in the global scope ( window ), all scripts can refer to them.
Alternatively, adopt the Asynchronous Module Definition (AMD) via
RequireJS for a more modular approach.

On the server (Node.js), the common way has been to use CommonJS.
Each file is treated as a module and it can export variables and
functions by attaching them to the module.exports object.

ES2015 defines a module syntax which aims to replace both AMD and
CommonJS. This will eventually be supported in both browser and
Node environments.

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References

• http://requirejs.org/docs/whyamd.html
• https://nodejs.org/docs/latest/api/modules.html
• http://2ality.com/2014/09/es6-modules-final.html
Why you might want to create static class members?
Static class members (properties/methods) are not tied to a specific
instance of a class and have the same value regardless of which
instance is referring to it. Static properties are typically configuration
variables and static methods are usually pure utility functions which do
not depend on the state of the instance.

References

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21155438/when-to-use-
static-variables-methods-and-when-to-use-instance-variables-
methods

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Other Answers
• http://flowerszhong.github.io/2013/11/20/javascript-
questions.html