circular references among javascript functions

Question

How can one define a pair of functions that call each other in Javascript so that JS-lint does not complain that 'factorial' is being used before it is defined?

function factorial1(n) { return factorial(n); }
function factorial(n) { return n === 0 ? 1 : n * factorial1(n - 1); }

It seems there is no valid ordering that will satisfy JSlint. (One can be embedded in the other, but this would be a nightmare for a collection of functions that all call each other).

Surely this is handled by the language right? Is this just a bug in JSlint? (This question must have been answered somewhere, but I cannot find it!)

Answer 1

The references inside the functions is not resolved until they are executed. As long as both functions has been defined by the time one of them executes, they will find each other.

If you want to get rid of the JSLint warning, you could define the name of the function, just before:

var factorial;
function factorial1(n) { return factorial(n); }
function factorial(n) { return n === 0 ? 1 : n * factorial1(n - 1); }