Implement and manipulate document structures and objects - Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 - page 91

helps reduce the possibility of naming collisions. The following code demonstrates this strat-
egy to create a namespace for a library developed for a bookstore:
var com = {};
com.Bookstore = {};
com.Bookstore.Book = {
title: 'my book',
genre: 'fiction'
};
com.Bookstore.Author = {
firstName: 'R',
lastName: 'D'
}
By creating the objects in this way, you can be reasonably certain that if another developer
creates a useful library to manage topics that you want to include in your site, you won't have
to worry about a naming collision between your Book and Author objects and those provided
by the other library. When developing reusable JavaScript libraries, never implement your
objects in the global namespace.
Leveraging the this keyword
The keyword this is a special term that allows JavaScript developers to reference the contain-
ing object directly. The following code snippet demonstrates the context of the this keyword:
<script>
//Here, "this" references the global namespace
this.navigator.geolocation
window.onload = function () {
//Here, "this" references the window object
this...
document.getElementById("aDiv").onclick = function()
{
//Here, "this" references the DIV element
this…
}
}
</script>
In this code snippet, the first this reference is in the global namespace—so it provides a
direct reference to the global namespace. As you move down through the code, the context
of the this keyword changes. In the onload event for the window, this refers to the window
object (yes, that's in the global namespace, but keep reading). Within the onclick function,
the this keyword refers to the div element returned from the getElementById method. The
this keyword always refers to the object that contains the currently running code. That is its
context.