Bootstrap-dropdown.js clearMenus() needs ; at the end | Hacker News Reader

Bootstrap-dropdown.js clearMenus() needs ; at the end

github.com

28 pointsGarbage10 comments

This is a well known github flame thread from 2.5 years ago. Not sure why this is here now?

For some JavaScript devs is it now trendy to refuse best practices?

Glad Crockford wouldn't comply. Buggy code is buggy no matter the formatting. Learn to write future-proof code (or keep it off GitHub.)

Those devs were debating what the best practice is, not refusing best practices. Saying stuff like "Learn to do X properly" in an argument is disingenuous and weak.

why is there a question as to what the best practice is. If you always use a semicolon you have no ambiguity and thus no errors resulting from it. if you don't always use a semicolon you have ambiguity and the resulting compiler errors.

Why would you ever not use them other than lazyness?

Crockford's argument, though stated abrasively, is that the best practice is the least ambiguous one.

It was trendy two and a half years ago when this thread happened. I like to imagine that things are better now... (They certainly are in Go, where the language authors learned from JS's mistakes, and decided to supply a code formatter alongside the compiler)

Why is this even an issue? Bootstrap also ships with a minified version.

Is there any particular reason why people are minifying bootstrap themselves?

Theming. They could maintain a fork with their own colors/fonts/etc. and merge in updates, re-minify, and ship.

tl;dr

In the end the guy who considers himself a hipster engineer wrapped the stuff into if statement:

     clearMenus()
     if (!isActive) $parent.toggleClass('open')

Furthermore he twitted that "The only reason I [fat] don't use semicolons is to troll people."

I'm betting the tweet was a tongue-in-cheek reaction to the situation.

Still, it is funny the lengths people will go to to avoid putting a semicolon at the end of their statements, even when the hacks to get around it are even uglier than the semicolon.

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