Using super methods in Javascript based on Crockford's functional inheritance

Question

I\'ve been reading the chapter on functional inheritance in Crockford\'s \'The Good Parts\'. In the mammal example he gives I\'m a bit confused as to why he uses the s

Answer 1

The idea here is that this:

var super_get_name = that.superior('get_name');

makes super_get_name into a function that — every time it is called — invokes that's original get_name method. This allows the new get_name to call the old (super-class) get_name.

Now, if the original get_name method will never have any effect other than to return a single value that never changes, then yeah, this is kind of pointless; you can just save that single-value-that-never-changes and then use it in the new get_name. But if the original get_name can actually do things (such as, say, run an AJAX request, or change the styling of an HTML element), or if its return-value can change (say, if there were some corresponding set_name method), then there would be an important difference between what your code does (save the original return-value and use it) and what Crockford's code does (save the original method and invoke it).