doubts on javascript apply - function memoization

Question

I\'m struggling with an example of js memoization found on a book, here\'s the code:

Function.prototype.memoized = function(key){
    this._values = this._va         


        

Answer 1

Let's use a simple example, fibonacci numbers.

function fib(n) {
    if (n < 2) return 1;
    return fib.memoized(n-1) + fib.memoized(n-2);
}

Here we can see that the memoized method is applied on the fib function, i.e. your this keyword refers to the fib function. It does not relaunch the memoized function, but "launches" the function on which it was called. However, it does call it with this set to the function itself, which does not make any sense. Better:

Function.prototype.memoize = function(key){
    if (!this._values)
        this._values = {};
    if (key in this._values)
        return this._values[key];
    else
        return this._values[key] = this.apply(null, arguments);
// pass null here:                            ^^^^
}

Even better would be if memoized would return a closure:

Function.prototype.memoized = function(v) {
    var fn = this, // the function on which "memoized" was called
        values = v || {};
    return function(key) {
        if (key in values)
            return values[key];
        else
            return values[key] = fn.apply(this, arguments);
    }
}
var fib = function(n) {
    if (n < 2) return 1;
    return fib(n-1) + fib(n-2);
}.memoized();
// or even
var fib = function(n) { return fib(n-1) + fib(n-2) }.memoized({0:1, 1:1});