JavaScript - run once without booleans

Question

Is there a way to run a piece of JavaScript code only ONCE, without using boolean flag variables to remember whether it has already been ran or not?

Spe

Answer 1

I just ran into this problem, and ended up doing something like the following:

function runOnce () {
    if (!this.alreadyRan) {
        // put all your functionality here
        console.log('running my function!');

        // set a property on the function itself to prevent it being run again
        this.alreadyRan = true;
    }
}

This takes advantage of the fact that Javascript properties are undefined by default.