Closures in JavaScript and Ruby

gistfile1.md

I put together a handful of gists in order to dip my toes into functional programming and understand exactly how closures in both JavaScript and Ruby work.

Definition of a closure

A closure is a function that can be passed around in order to be called later. Its other property (the one that screws programmers up :) is the fact that the variable values persist from the time the function is created. It can then access the variables even after they lose scope/change values.

My explanations and examples:

Closures in JavaScript: https://gist.github.com/45ba3ef454d9696d2bb5
Closures in Ruby: https://gist.github.com/4196841

References:

• http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/closures.shtml
• http://skilldrick.co.uk/2011/01/ruby-vs-javascript-functions-procs-blocks-and-lambdas/
• http://www.skorks.com/2010/05/closures-a-simple-explanation-using-ruby/