What are Javascript Closures?
Nandan Kumar
Posted on November 18, 2024
Closures are a fundamental concept in JavaScript that enables powerful features like data privacy, state persistence, and functional programming. This blog will demystify closures with examples and practical use cases.
When are closures created?
Closures are created when a function (inner function) is defined inside another function (outer function). The inner function has access to the outer function's lexical scope (variables) even after the outer function is executed.
Lexical Scope in Javascript
Lexical scope means a functions scope is determined by where it is written in the code, not where it is executed. This allows inner functions to access variables from their outer functions even if the outer function has already finished executing.
Usage
Closures are used for creating Private variables and persistent States (Cache, Memoisation etc.).
Closures with Examples
A Simple counter
function Outer() {
let count = 0; // count is a private variable
return function inner() {
count++; // count is updated every time inner is called
return count; // the updated value of count is returned
};
}
let Counter = Outer();
Counter(); // 1 (count starts at 0, incremented to 1)
Counter(); // 2 (incremented again)
Counter(); // 3
Building a cache leveraging closure
function ObjectCache() {
let Obj = {}; // Obj acts as a private cache
return function ObjectUpdate(key, value) {
if (!Obj[key]) {
Obj[key] = value; // Add key-value to cache if not already present
return Obj; // Return updated cache
} else {
return new Error("Duplicate Key"); // Prevent overwriting
}
};
}
let cache = ObjectCache();
cache("a", "b"); // {a: 'b'}
cache("a", "c"); // Error: Duplicate Key
cache("alpha", "romeo"); // {a: 'b', alpha: 'romeo'}
Real World Examples
Event Listeners - Click Counter
function attachListener(element) {
let count = 0;
element.addEventListener('click', () => {
count++;
console.log(`Clicked ${count} times`);
});
}
A Better Counter
const CounterModule = (() => {
let count = 0;
return {
increment: () => ++count,
reset: () => (count = 0),
decrement: () => --count
};
})();
CounterModule.increment(); // 1
CounterModule.increment(); // 2
CounterModule.decrement(); // 1
CounterModule.reset(); // 0
Thats all, folks! I hope you found this short blog on closures helpful. If you enjoyed this, check out more articles on my website, https://nandan.dev/
Feel free to comment, email me at connect@nandan.dev, or connect with me on Twitter, Instagram, or GitHub. Dont forget to subscribe to my newsletter for regular updates on JavaScript topics!
Posted on November 18, 2024
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