Getting started with JavaScript arguments can be overwhelming for newcomers

Can you figure out why the variable 'a' doesn't increase by 1 in the following code snippet?

var a = 5;

function abc(y) {
    y++;
}

abc(a);

// The value of 'a' remains 5, instead of increasing to 6. Why is that?

However, when we look at this other code snippet:

var a = 5;

function abc() {
    a++;
}

abc();

// Now, the value of 'a' is indeed increased to 6.

Answer №1

In the realm of JavaScript, primitive values behave as if they are passed by value.

If you desire to update a value, one approach is to place it within an object and capitalize on the peculiar nature of objects being passed by reference (or rather a copy of the reference in most cases, but let's not delve too deep into that):

var obj = { a: 5 };

function  abc(o){
   o.a++;
} 

abc(obj);

Answer №2

it receives an argument, but does not output any values.

y serves as the argument in this scenario and I propose two methods to achieve this:

  1. var a = 10
    
    function increase(){
       a++
    }
    
    increase();
    
  2. var a = 10;
    
    function increase(a){
       return a++; 
    }
    
    a = increase(a);
    

Answer №3

Let's break it down for beginners:

In layman's terms, when you invoke a function with abc(a), the value of 'a' is not directly passed to the function abc but rather copied to another variable called 'y' (this is known as pass by value). Because only 'y' is incremented in the function, you do not observe any changes reflected in the original value of 'a'.

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