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JavaScript Object-Oriented JavaScript (2015) Constructor Functions and Prototypes Creating Multiple Instances with Constructors

Posted by George Martinez
George Martinez
6,232 Points

What is the difference between function chaining and method chaining?

Do we use the term "function chaining" when the functions we are chaining have been created OUTSIDE and object? or are they synonym terms?

2 Answers

Katie Wood
Katie Wood
19,141 Points
Katie Wood
Katie Wood
19,141 Points

You've pretty much got it - a method is a member function of an object. Within an object, primitive values or other objects are properties, and functions are methods.

Ricardo Hill-Henry
Ricardo Hill-Henry
38,442 Points
Ricardo Hill-Henry
Ricardo Hill-Henry
38,442 Points

The term "function chaining" isn't one I'm familiar with, and doesn't make intuitive sense with how functions work in Javascript. Chaining is done on object instances using methods (hence "method chaining") that are available to that object. Of course methods are created using functions, however a regular function cannot be chained because dot notation is not available. Method chaining is really just a convenience, but is only available when a method returns this (the current object). This blog post does a good job of explaining method chaining (something you'll use a lot with jQuery): https://schier.co/blog/2013/11/14/method-chaining-in-javascript.html

Katie Wood
Katie Wood
19,141 Points

This is correct, as far as I know - I kind of focused on the difference between a function and a method, but the question is about chaining. Function chaining isn't a thing as far as I'm aware - the whole point of method chaining is that it's all done on the same item, hence "method".