function breakdown problems

Question

function exec(func, arg) {                                                                                                              
  func(arg);                                                                                                                                    
}                                                                                                                                                      
exec((something) => {                                                                                                                  
  console.log(something);                                                                                                            
}, "Greetings, everyone!");                                                                                                               
Can someone break this down step by step please

babyoscar · Accepted Answer

JavaScript
function exec(func, arg) {
    func(arg);
}

defines a function called "exec". It has two parameters. The first one, func, is supposed to be a function that accepts one parameter. The second one, arg, is the argument you pass to func. Inside "exec", it calls func and passes arg as the first parameter.
JavaScript
exec((something) => {
    console.log(something);
}, "Greetings, everyone!");

calls "exec", and passes a function for the first argument to "exec". This function accepts one argument (as expected). It logs that argument to the console. It passes "Greetings, everyone!" as the second argument to "exec". "exec" calls the function that was passed as the first argument to "exec", passing "Greetings, everyone!" as the argument. So, the call to "exec" basically executes console.log("Greetings, everyone!");. Hope this helped!

Peter Vann · Answer

Hi jas0n!
It might be easier to grasp if written more like this:
```javascript
function exec(func, arg) { // When exec is called...
  func(arg); // ...this function will execute (which, as coded, is actually logGreetingFunc)
}
const logGreetingFunc = (something) => {
    console.log(something);
}
exec(logGreetingFunc, "Greetings, everyone!"); // Actual execution happens here

When exec runs, this will log to the console:

Greetings, everyone!

It may seem silly or weird to pass a function to a function and in this case, there is no real benefit over just doing this:
javascript
const logGreetingFunc = (something) => {
    console.log(something);
}
logGreetingFunc("Greetings, everyone!");
```
But there are cases where, say for timing reasons, you want to delay the execution of logGreetingFunc, you can pass it to another function that handles the delay, such as setTimeout or addEventListener and it will execute either after the delay or when the event occurs (such as a button click).
More info:
https://teamtreehouse.com/library/what-is-a-callback
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/what-is-a-callback-function-in-javascript/
Think of exec as a sort of wrapper function (much like decorators in Python) and it could even contain some helper code, for example, perhaps validating "something" before passing it to logGreetingFunc. Or exec could return True or False depending on if logGreetingFunc's execution is successful or not.
More info:
https://trackjs.com/blog/how-to-wrap-javascript-functions/
https://teamtreehouse.com/library/understanding-closures-in-javascript
I hope that helps.
Stay safe and happy coding!

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ja5on

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function breakdown problems

2 Answers

babyoscar

babyoscar

Peter Vann

Peter Vann

ja5on

ja5on