Re: JavaScript page naming, round B

I'll restore what was lost and resend shortly.

As to using Global, that feels like a mistake to me.  Array or String and
so forth are Objects, because they point back to the Object prototype.

The Object prototype (
http://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/5.1/#sec-15.2.4 ) has important
features that everything that derives from it (Array, String, Number, etc)
benefit.  For example, because you know that Object has a toString method
you know that things that derive from it also have that method available.
You immediately know that on an Array you can call toString.

We don't document that Array has a toString method available in it, because
we know it derives from Object.  So then if we take Object out of the loop
and use something like Global, we miss out on knowing the features of
Object we might want to use, such as these methods:

js> [1, 2, 3].toString ()
1,2,3
js> Number(123).valueOf ()
123
js> [1, 2, 3].hasOwnProperty ("length")
true

The prototype chain also shows that we can't kick Object out of the loop
when describing Array et al.:

js> Object.prototype.isPrototypeOf (Array.prototype)
true
js> Array.prototype.isPrototypeOf (global.prototype)
false

MDN calls them Objects (defined at global scope) then calls them
constructors: (
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference#Global_Objects).
 ECMA calls them either constructors or type conversions (because not
using new acts like a type converter).

The word "object" is used extensively across many languages.  But in
JavaScript it has extremely precise meaning with important features.  Here
it appears impossible to avoid it without losing information about the
prototype chain.


On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 1:35 AM, PhistucK <phistuck@gmail.com> wrote:

> Thank you!
>
> Why are all of these in the same level?
> Function (and other objects) should be under Global (in my opinion) and
> function (and other statements or operators) should be under language (or
> similar, or whatever it was before).
>
> I have not read any post by anyone that asked to remove the Statements or
> Operators levels, why was it done?
>
>
> ☆*PhistucK*
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 4:53 AM, Max Polk <maxpolk@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> This concerns the JavaScript page import effort.
>>
>> At the moment the Objects, Operators, and Statements pages with all their
>> subpages are being discussed.
>>
>> So far I have the following numbered steps, based on all the accumulated
>> suggestions so far.
>>
>> 1.  REMOVE pages due to being Internet Explorer only.
>>
>> The list of pages to remove follow.  Note that the "Statements/if" is
>> removed because it's a conditional compilation page for IE only.  The
>> "Statements/if else" is the normal if statement.
>>
>> * Objects/ActiveXObject
>> * Objects/Enumerator
>> * Objects/Enumerator/atEnd Method
>> * Objects/Enumerator/item Method
>> * Objects/Enumerator/moveFirst Method
>> * Objects/Enumerator/moveNext Method
>> * Objects/Date/getVarDate Method
>> * Objects/Debug
>> * Objects/Debug/Debug.debuggerEnabled Property
>> * Objects/Debug/Debug.setNonUserCodeExceptions Property
>> * Objects/Debug/Debug.write Function
>> * Objects/Debug/Debug.writeln Function
>> * Objects/VBArray
>> * Objects/VBArray/dimensions Method
>> * Objects/VBArray/getItem Method
>> * Objects/VBArray/lbound Method
>> * Objects/VBArray/toArray Method
>> * Objects/VBArray/ubound Method
>> * Objects/WinRTError
>> * Statements/cc on
>> * Statements/if
>> * Statements/set
>>
>> 2.  REMOVE from the page name the prefix "Objects", "Operators", or
>> "Statements".
>>
>> After removal and sorting the top level pages are as follows.  Note that
>> there is one page name conflict, the function statement and the Function
>> object will both have the same page name "function" (or "Function" but
>> equivalent in the wiki, so they are in conflict).
>>
>> * Addition                              (operator) eg: x + y
>> * Addition Assignment                   (operator) eg: a += 5
>> * arguments                             (object) eg: arguments.length
>> * Array
>> * ArrayBuffer
>> * Assignment                            (operator) eg: x = y
>> * Bitwise AND                           (operator) eg: x & y
>> * Bitwise AND Assignment                (operator) eg: x &= 2
>> * Bitwise Left Shift
>> * Bitwise NOT
>> * Bitwise OR
>> * Bitwise OR Assignment
>> * Bitwise Right Shift
>> * Bitwise XOR
>> * Bitwise XOR Assignment
>> * Boolean
>> * break                                 (statement)
>> * Comma                                 (operator) eg: x, y
>> * Comment
>> * Comparison
>> * Compound Assignment
>> * Conditional Ternary
>> * continue
>> * DataView
>> * Date
>> * debugger
>> * delete
>> * Division
>> * Division Assignment
>> * do while
>> * Error
>> * Float32Array
>> * Float64Array
>> * for
>> * for in
>> * function                              (statement)
>> * Function                              (object)
>> * Global
>> * if else
>> * in
>> * Increment and Decrement
>> * instanceof
>> * Int16Array
>> * Int32Array
>> * Int8Array
>> * JSON
>> * Labeled
>> * Left Shift Assignment
>> * Logical AND
>> * Logical NOT
>> * Logical OR
>> * Math
>> * Modulus
>> * Modulus Assignment
>> * Multiplication
>> * Multiplication Assignment
>> * new
>> * Number
>> * Object
>> * RegExp
>> * Regular Expression
>> * return
>> * Right Shift Assignment
>> * String
>> * Subtraction
>> * Subtraction Assignment
>> * switch
>> * this
>> * throw
>> * try catch finally
>> * typeof
>> * Uint16Array
>> * Uint32Array
>> * Uint8Array
>> * Unsigned Right Shift
>> * Unsigned Right Shift Assignment
>> * var
>> * void
>> * while
>> * with
>>
>> The action item for now is to decide if we like the above, and how to
>> resolve the one page name conflict for the "function" page.
>>
>
>