Paul Irish's Javascript Tricks from jQuery 1.4.2

irishAwesomeness.js

// Paul Irish dissects jQuery's source code and explains some sexy practices and pitfalls. Here's a summary.

// This pattern is a self-executing anonymous function. It helps minification, faster scope access to document and eliminates the asshole effect where someone writes undefined = true in your JS
(function(window, document, undefined){ 
    /*... code here ...*/ 
})(this, document);

// In short, the self calling pattern is as follows:
(function f() {})();
// or with arguments
(function f(arg1, arg2){})(arg1Value, arg2Value);

// doStuff might last more than 100ms, so we're using setTimeout instead of setInterval. This method allows the calls to still have 100ms between calls, even if the calls last more than 100ms, and prevents them stacking if one fails to execute within its designated 100ms.
(function loop(){
    doStuff();
    setTimeout(loop, 100);
})();

// The above method also works great for asnyc recursion - preventing us from calling a resource before the previous one fully loaded.
(function loop(){
    doStuff();
    $("#update").load("some.php", function(){loop();}, "json");
})();