[removed] what's the difference between a function name & function reference?

Question

I\'m reading the Google Maps API and it states that the:

\"callback: The function to call once the script has loaded. If using the Auto-loading feature, this         


        

Answer 1

Well, perhaps what that bit of documentation means to say is that the "name" it expects should be a string containing the name of a function, instead of a "bare" function name (which is a reference to a function) or a function instantiation/definition expression.

edit OK I see what the deal is. This really isn't a Google Maps thing, it's the Google Javascript loader toolkit. The API does indeed want a string, which makes perfect sense since the function you want to call is inside the code that you're loading, and therefore you can't have a reference to it from the calling environment.

google.load("feeds", "1", {"callback" : "someFunctionName"});

It would make no sense to write:

google.load("feeds", "1", {"callback" : someFunctionName});

because "someFunctionName" used like that — as a reference to something — could not possibly be a reference to the right function (if it's defined at all).

Answer 2

Nothing.

// f1 :: function name
function f1(a) { return a*a; }  

// f2 :: reference to an anonymous function
var f2 = function(a) { return a*a; }  

// f3 :: a reference to the first function
var f3 = f1; 

// these are equivalent. The second one calls into 
// a different actual function. 
f1(3);  // 9
f2(4);  // 16
f3(5);  // 25

Answer 3

function: function func() {}

function reference: func

function name: 'func'

Answer 4

A function name is a string ("alert"). A function reference is the function itself (alert).

Answer 5

The name of a function is a string such as 'foo' in this case:

function foo() {}

A reference to a function is any variable that is set to the value of the function itself (not the result of calling it).

Functions in Javascript can be anonymous - you can have a reference to a function that has no name.

var bar = function() {}