What is the difference between anonymous and inline functions in JavaScript? [closed]

Question

The title sums up my question. An example that demonstrates the point would be nice.

Answer 1

First off, there doesn't seem to be a consensus definition for inline functions in JavaScript. I consider an inline function to be a special case of a JavaScript function. An inline function is a function assigned to a variable that is created at runtime instead of at parsetime.

Anonymous functions and inline functions are practically the same, in that they are created at runtime. The difference is that an inline function is assigned to a variable and so it can be reused. In that way, inline functions work the same as a regular function.

Pre es6, anonymous and inline functions were declared similarly to regular functions using the function keyword. With the advent of es6, anonymous and inline functions could also be declared with the more compact, arrow function syntax.

Function

function func() {     alert ('function'); }  $('a').click(func); 

Inline Function

var func = function() {      alert ('inline')  }; $('a').click(func);  // Alternative es6+ inline arrow function. let func2 = () => alert('inline'); $('a').click(func2); 

Anonymous Function

$('a').click(function() {     alert('anonymous'); }); // Alternative es6+ anonymous arrow function. $('a').click(() => alert('anonymous')); 

Answer 2

Inline function is somewhat different , quoting from wikipedia :

an inline function is a function upon which the compiler has been requested to perform inline expansion. In other words, the programmer has requested that the compiler insert the complete body of the function in every place that the function is called, rather than generating code to call the function in the one place it is defined. Compilers are not obligated to respect this request.

Javascript does not support the concept of inline function. But i found some references in web where callbacks like:

(function(){   setTimeout(/*inline function*/function(){ /*some code here*/ }, 5);}) (); 

are called inline function. As you can see these function do not have any name either , so they are essentially same as anonymous function. I think ,since you are defining the function where you are using it ,it's been referenced by inline function but the name "anonymous function" best describes the notion.