Newbie question

[javanewbie7]

Hello,

I'm in the process of getting a better understanding of javascript (instead of just copying and pasting JQuery script onto my site).

So I have a(dumb?) question. Can I name a var what ever I want? For example,

var car_name("Ford Escape");


Or am I misunderstanding this?

THanks.

[DJCMBear]

No you can only var letters, numbers and some special chars such as _ (underscore), but to do what you want you can do this. var car_name = ['Ford Escape']; and then you can do this alert(car_name[0]); // alerts Ford Escape

[Old Pedant]

??? car_name is a fine variable name.

But what's the bit with "Ford Escape"???

That's not legal syntax.

Anyway, no. Variables must consist of only letters, digits, underline, and dollar sign. They can start with any of those characters except a digit.

[javanewbie7]

OK, I guess this is the example I was thinking of (I got it off of W3Schools) and it's also why I'm confused. SO i use an Array to list the vehicles (or whatever I want to list), correct?


<script type="text/javascript">
var x;
var mycars = new Array();
mycars[0] = "Saab";
mycars[1] = "Volvo";
mycars[2] = "BMW";

for (x in mycars)
{
document.write(mycars[x] + "<br />");
}
</script>

Thanks.

[DJCMBear]

Most codes these days use the object array to store the array data for example like this.

<script type="text/javascript">
var x,
    mycars = ["Saab","Volvo","BMW"];
for (x in mycars) {
  document.write(mycars[x] + "<br />"); // x equals the current array item number
}
</script>

[javanewbie7]

Originally Posted by DJCMBear

Most codes these days use the object array to store the array data for example like this.

<script type="text/javascript">
var x,
    mycars = ["Saab","Volvo","BMW"];
for (x in mycars) {
  document.write(mycars[x] + "<br />"); // x equals the current array item number
}
</script>

Thanks. That helps.

[Old Pedant]

Yes, excepting that's a more complicated way to create an array than is necessary.

Try this:

<script type="text/javascript">
var x;
var mycars = ["Saab","Volvo","BMW"];

for (x in mycars)
{
    document.write(mycars[x] + "<br />");
}
document.write( "<hr>An easy way to dump the array: " + mycars + "<hr>" );
document.write( "Or another way:<ul><li>" + mycars.join("</li><li>") + "</li></ul>" );
</script>

[Old Pedant]

Hah. Bear beat me to it. But look at the other ways to dump arrays. Lots of fun to be had by all.

[DJCMBear]

Originally Posted by Old Pedant

Hah. Bear beat me to it.

Always funny seeing what you have just posted is the same as someone else's, explaining more or less the same thing.