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JavaScript

Reza Sorasti
Reza Sorasti
491 Points
Posted by Reza Sorasti
Reza Sorasti
491 Points

Why bracket is not being used in the for loop?

//This is the code of the instructor var message = ''; var student;

var students = [ { name: 'Dave', track: 'Front End Development', achievements: '158', points: '14730' }, { name: 'Jody', track: 'iOS Development with Swift', achievements: '175', points: '16375' }, { name: 'Jordan', track: 'PHP Development', achievements: '55', points: '2025' }, { name: 'John', track: 'Learn WordPress', achievements: '40', points: '1950' }, { name: 'Trish', track: 'Rails Development', achievements: '5', points: '350' } ];

function print(message) { var outputDiv = document.getElementById('output'); outputDiv.innerHTML = message; }

for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i += 1) { student = students[i]; message += '<h2>Student: ' + student.name + '</h2>'; message += '<p>Track: ' + student.track + '</p>'; message += '<p>Points: ' + student.points + '</p>'; message += '<p>Achievements: ' + student.achievements + '</p>'; } print(message);

I am wondering why did the instructor not use the braket notation instead in the for loop which we get the same result? like this:

for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i += 1) { //student = students[i]; message += '<h2>Student: ' + students[i].name + '</h2>'; message += '<p>Track: ' + students[i].track + '</p>'; message += '<p>Points: ' + students[i].points + '</p>'; message += '<p>Achievements: ' + students[i].achievements + '</p>'; }

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,271 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,271 Points

It's hard to tell what you are illustrating with the code not formatted.

Use the instructions for code formatting in the Markdown Cheatsheet pop-up below the "Add an Answer" area. :arrow_heading_down:
Or watch this video on code formatting.

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,271 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,271 Points

The brackets are used to assign student with the single student record using the index. Once that is done, the properties can be accessed using the student variable.

Your method of using the index again on students on every line would also work, and in that case you don't need the line assigning student at all.

Those are both ways to do the same job, but I think the instructor's way makes the code a little easier to read.