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JavaScript Treehouse Club: JavaScript Car Sounds HTML Comments and JavaScript

Chandelor Simon
Chandelor Simon
2,242 Points
Posted by Chandelor Simon
Chandelor Simon
2,242 Points

Why don't I have to change 'startCar' to 'startCarA' in all fields: buttons, audio files, and Javascript?

I was playing around with the html; when I went to change:

<audio id="startCar" src="sounds/startCar.wav" preload="auto"></audio>

to instead reflect:

<audio id="startCar" src="sounds/startCarA.wav" preload="auto"></audio>

I thought I would need to change the code in Buttons and Javascript to reflect the change, as well:

<!--for Buttons--> <a href="javascript:startCarA();"><img src="images/key.png" alt="key"></a>

<!--and for Javascript--> function startCarA() { document.getElementById('startCarA').play();

When I added those changes in altogether and refreshed the page - there was no longer audio when I clicked the key. As I continued to play I found that when I only edited the audio to 'startCarA'- leaving the buttons and Javascript unaltered - it played the different sound.

I recall Joy saying you have to make changes to everything because all the pieces work together; would someone kindly clarify what's different about this aspect?

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,269 Points

I can see how that might be a bit confusing! That comment about changing things together would apply to identifiers like variable names. The name itself is not important, but you must be careful to use it consistently throughout the program.

In this case, the change is not being made to a program identifier, but to a file name. The file name is only used once in the program, as the value for the "src" attribute of the "audio" element. The file name might happen to look similar to a function name in the program, but they really are not related.

Chandelor Simon
Chandelor Simon
2,242 Points
Chandelor Simon
Chandelor Simon
2,242 Points

Thank you, Steven - I understand now! It's not changing the file name, just the thing we're using (CarA). Muchas gracias, my man!