transliterating cyrillic to latin with javascript function

Question

I made this function:

function transliterate(word){

    var answer = \"\";

    A = new Array();
    A[\"Ё\"]=\"YO\";A[\"Й\"]=\"I\";A[\"Ц\"]=\"TS\";A[\"У\"         


        

Answer 1

Couple of things...

1. Use undefined instead of 'undefined'
2. Don't put the return in the loop
3. Use hasOwnProperty to filter out functions and properties on the prototype
4. Use [] instead of new Array()
5. Use an {} instead of an []
6. Use lower case variables instead of upper case. Uppercase is reserved for constructors

Here is the code

function transliterate(word){
    var answer = ""
      , a = {};

   a["Ё"]="YO";a["Й"]="I";a["Ц"]="TS";a["У"]="U";a["К"]="K";a["Е"]="E";a["Н"]="N";a["Г"]="G";a["Ш"]="SH";a["Щ"]="SCH";a["З"]="Z";a["Х"]="H";a["Ъ"]="'";
   a["ё"]="yo";a["й"]="i";a["ц"]="ts";a["у"]="u";a["к"]="k";a["е"]="e";a["н"]="n";a["г"]="g";a["ш"]="sh";a["щ"]="sch";a["з"]="z";a["х"]="h";a["ъ"]="'";
   a["Ф"]="F";a["Ы"]="I";a["В"]="V";a["А"]="a";a["П"]="P";a["Р"]="R";a["О"]="O";a["Л"]="L";a["Д"]="D";a["Ж"]="ZH";a["Э"]="E";
   a["ф"]="f";a["ы"]="i";a["в"]="v";a["а"]="a";a["п"]="p";a["р"]="r";a["о"]="o";a["л"]="l";a["д"]="d";a["ж"]="zh";a["э"]="e";
   a["Я"]="Ya";a["Ч"]="CH";a["С"]="S";a["М"]="M";a["И"]="I";a["Т"]="T";a["Ь"]="'";a["Б"]="B";a["Ю"]="YU";
   a["я"]="ya";a["ч"]="ch";a["с"]="s";a["м"]="m";a["и"]="i";a["т"]="t";a["ь"]="'";a["б"]="b";a["ю"]="yu";

   for (i in word){
     if (word.hasOwnProperty(i)) {
       if (a[word[i]] === undefined){
         answer += word[i];
       } else {
         answer += a[word[i]];
       }
     }
   }
   return answer;
}

More functional one is like this...

var a = {"Ё":"YO","Й":"I","Ц":"TS","У":"U","К":"K","Е":"E","Н":"N","Г":"G","Ш":"SH","Щ":"SCH","З":"Z","Х":"H","Ъ":"'","ё":"yo","й":"i","ц":"ts","у":"u","к":"k","е":"e","н":"n","г":"g","ш":"sh","щ":"sch","з":"z","х":"h","ъ":"'","Ф":"F","Ы":"I","В":"V","А":"a","П":"P","Р":"R","О":"O","Л":"L","Д":"D","Ж":"ZH","Э":"E","ф":"f","ы":"i","в":"v","а":"a","п":"p","р":"r","о":"o","л":"l","д":"d","ж":"zh","э":"e","Я":"Ya","Ч":"CH","С":"S","М":"M","И":"I","Т":"T","Ь":"'","Б":"B","Ю":"YU","я":"ya","ч":"ch","с":"s","м":"m","и":"i","т":"t","ь":"'","б":"b","ю":"yu"};

function transliterate(word){
  return word.split('').map(function (char) { 
    return a[char] || char; 
  }).join("");
}