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JavaScript JavaScript Loops, Arrays and Objects Tracking Data Using Objects The Build an Object Challenge, Part 2 Solution

Posted by Tom Evertzen
Tom Evertzen
9,750 Points

Using a for in loop and not declaring the variable

I used a For in loop in my code, and everything is working like it should but i was wondering, 2 videos earlier there was specifically told in the teachers notes that we had to declare the variable in the for in loop. Like this for (var prop in students) but i noticed that when i do not declare that variable it is still working the same way, the chrome console and VSC aren't given any problems? Why is it still working and is it bad practice to leave it out?

var HTML = '';

function print(message) {
  var outputDiv = document.getElementById('output');
  outputDiv.innerHTML += message;
}

var students = [
  {
    name: 'Tom',
    track: ['Javascript', 'JSON', 'CSS'],
    achievements: ['HTML', 'Computeren'],
    points: 1245
  },
  {
    name: 'Eva',
    track: ['Wordpress', 'Android', 'CSS'],
    achievements: ['PHP', 'Computeren'],
    points: 6543
  },
  {
    name: 'Johnny',
    track: ['Beginning PHP', 'Swift'],
    achievements: ['HTML', 'Rails development'],
    points: 23467
  },
  {
    name: 'Kendrick',
    track: ['Javascript', 'ASP.NET', 'Security'],
    achievements: ['Design Primer', 'Java'],
    points: 4312
  },
  {
    name: 'Pietje',
    track: ['C#', 'SQL', 'CSS'],
    achievements: ['Exploring Flask', 'Beginning Python'],
    points: 54346
  }
];

var student;

for (prop in students) {
  student = students[prop];
  HTML += '</br>';
  HTML += '<h2> Student: ' + student.name + '</h2>';
  HTML += '<p>Track: ' + student.track.join(', ') + '.</p>';
  HTML += '<p>Achievements: ' + student.achievements.join(', ') + '.</p>';
  HTML += '<p>Points: ' + student.points + '.</p>';
}

print(HTML);

2 Answers

Brendan Whiting
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Brendan Whiting
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 84,738 Points
Brendan Whiting
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Brendan Whiting
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 84,738 Points

The difference is local vs global scope. If you happened to have another variable in the global scope called prop, your loop would be modifying that variable every time. If you made your loop for (var prop in students) or better yet for (let prop in students), then it would make a local variable that wouldn't pollute the global scope. So it's just good practice to keep the scope local just in case there was something floating around with the same name. Especially if you're collaborating with other devs, sometimes you don't actually know for sure what other variables might be out there in global scope.

Tom Evertzen
Tom Evertzen
9,750 Points

Thanks for the fast answer but i think i'm still not fully getting in haha. Is the for loop working the same as a function, and the parameters given in would automatically create a variable. No matter if it has let, const or var in front of it?

Brendan Whiting
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Brendan Whiting
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 84,738 Points
Brendan Whiting
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree seal-36
Brendan Whiting
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 84,738 Points

It only creates a variable in local scope by default (like a function parameter) if you use the let keyword. If you don’t it looks for one in the global scope.

Let me show you two examples. In both examples, I’m going to declare a global variable number. In the first example, I’m using the let keyword which means that in the for in loop number will be a local variable that doesn’t affect the global scope. So you can see that I defined the number as “four” before the loop, and it’s still “four” after the loop.

const numbers = {one: "hi", two: "ho", three: "yo"}
let number = "four";

for (let number in numbers) {
  console.log(number) // "one", "two", "three"
}

console.log(number); // "four"

In another example, I don’t use the let keyword. So after the loop, if I print out the value of number, it’s “three”. So there has been a side effect of changing the global variable with that name as we went through the loop. Which could potentially cause bugs. So it’s better to just be in the habit of using let.

const numbers = {one: "hi", two: "ho", three: "yo"}
let number = "four";

for (number in numbers) {
  console.log(number) // "one", "two", "three"
}

console.log(number); // "three"
Michel Ribbens
Michel Ribbens
18,417 Points
Michel Ribbens
Michel Ribbens
18,417 Points

this worked for me as well: for (prop in students)

am a bit confused with the ES6 way of writing variables in loops, arrays and objects. I want to make my code as modern as possible so instead of using var I want to use const or let

in the loop it seems to be an obvious choice since the variable is changing, so we should use let

but what about the other variables? so for example, here is my code for this challenge. please tell me when to use const or let instead of the old var

var text = '';
var student;

function print(message) {
  var output = document.getElementById('output');
  output.innerHTML = message;
}

for (prop in students) {
  var student = students[prop];
  text += `<h2><b>Student: ${student.name}</b></h2>`;
  text += `<p>Track: ${student.track}</p>`;
  text += `<p>Achievements: ${student.achievements}</p>`;
  text += `<p>Points: ${student.points}</p>`;
  text += `<br>`;
}

print(text);
Tom Evertzen
Tom Evertzen
9,750 Points

This should help Michel, at least for me it made it much clearer: https://teamtreehouse.com/library/welcome-to-getting-started-with-es2015