JavaScript: A basic jQuery plugin pattern by Addy Osmani

jquery.basic.plugin-boilerplate.js

/*!
 * jQuery lightweight plugin boilerplate
 * Original author: @ajpiano
 * Further changes, comments: @addyosmani
 * Licensed under the MIT license
 * https://github.com/addyosmani/jquery-plugin-patterns/blob/master/jquery.basic.plugin-boilerplate.js
 */

// the semi-colon before the function invocation is a safety
// net against concatenated scripts and/or other plugins
// that are not closed properly.
;(function ( $, window, document, undefined ) {

    // undefined is used here as the undefined global
    // variable in ECMAScript 3 and is mutable (i.e. it can
    // be changed by someone else). undefined isn't really
    // being passed in so we can ensure that its value is
    // truly undefined. In ES5, undefined can no longer be
    // modified.

    // window and document are passed through as local
    // variables rather than as globals, because this (slightly)
    // quickens the resolution process and can be more
    // efficiently minified (especially when both are
    // regularly referenced in your plugin).

    // Create the defaults once
    var pluginName = 'defaultPluginName',
        defaults = {
            propertyName: "value"
        };

    // The actual plugin constructor
    function Plugin( element, options ) {
        this.element = element;

        // jQuery has an extend method that merges the
        // contents of two or more objects, storing the
        // result in the first object. The first object
        // is generally empty because we don't want to alter
        // the default options for future instances of the plugin
        this.options = $.extend( {}, defaults, options) ;

        this._defaults = defaults;
        this._name = pluginName;

        this.init();
    }

    Plugin.prototype = {
        init: function () {
        // Place initialization logic here
        // You already have access to the DOM element and
        // the options via the instance, e.g. this.element
        // and this.options
        }
    };

    // A really lightweight plugin wrapper around the constructor,
    // preventing against multiple instantiations
    $.fn[pluginName] = function ( options ) {
        return this.each(function () {
            if (!$.data(this, 'plugin_' + pluginName)) {
                $.data(this, 'plugin_' + pluginName,
                new Plugin( this, options ));
            }
        });
    }

})( jQuery, window, document );

Changed the declaration of the init function to easily allow the addition of more functionality.