Variables and Shadowing: I don't understand why these two functions in Quiz Questions 1 and 2 have different results

Hi Trang,

The key difference is the variable person inside each function.

When you declare a variable inside a function, that variable is only accessible inside the function (scope).

So when you look at the first question, you declare the variable person outside any function, this means its scope is global - the variable can be accessed anywhere in your code.

So running the script we have:

first value assignment var person = "Jim";

second value assignment person = "Nick";

then we call the function whosGotTheFunc, this sets person to Andrew. As you can see inside the function, its just person = 'Andrew', so its targeting the variable person declared in the global scope.

In the second question, the key difference is inside the whosGotTheFunc, you declare a new variable called person - var person = 'Andrew'. This variable is only visible inside the function. Even though it has the same name as the one declared outside the function, they are different variables. Once the function finishes running, the variable declared inside disappears

Just to give you an example, if you wanted to make the second question give the same result as the first, you could do it like this:

var person = "Jim";

function whosGotTheFunc() { 
var person = "Andrew"; 
return person;
} 

person = "Nick";

person = whosGotTheFunc();

console.log(person);

Thank you.

Why isn't Nick the result in Question 1?