gistfile1.js

// Some simple functions to find elements.
var id = function(id){return document.getElementById(id)},
	tag = function(tag,scope){return (scope||document).getElementsByTagName(tag)},
	hasClass = function(find,nodes) {
		var ret = [],node,i; for(i=0;i<nodes.length;i++) { node = nodes[i];
			if(1+node.className.indexOf(find)) { ret.push(node);}
		} return ret;
	};

// usage
var messages = hasClass('message',
					tag('div',
						id('commit')
					)
				);