Why Can't I Use JS Function Called 'evaluate' in HTML?

Question

I'm kind of curious why this doesn't work

JavaScript:

function evaluate(){
    console.log(42);
}

HTML:

<a onclick="evaluate()">Click Me!</a>

Is evaluate a reserved keyword somewhere on the html side?

Answer 1

document.evaluate is needed for parsing XMLs, see the reference in the MDN here.

Answer 2

Evaluate is not a reserved word in JavaScript, document.evaluate is used to evaluate XPath expressions.

You could still name your function evaluate if you used a less obtrusive method of attaching your event handler:

var evaluate = function (){
    console.log(42);
}

document.addEventListener('click', evaluate, false);

Example