The Killer This
“It’s just a this keyword,” says the developer, peering into the cave of the JavaScript API. “How bad can it be?”
The tiny this dashes forward, leaping through the air. The method loses its binding. The callback silently rebinds to undefined. An event handler that worked in one context produces TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined in another. Bones litter the ground.
“I warned you!” shouts Dave from a safe distance. “But did you listen? ‘Oh, it’s just a little keyword,’ you said. ‘It’s just a binding mechanism,’ you said.”
The developer retreats to surface Lykn, where this doesn’t exist. The cave mouth — JavaScript’s entire ecosystem — still glitters with treasure: DOM APIs, third-party libraries, framework hooks, server runtimes. How do you get the treasure without the rabbit?
“Bring forth the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch!”
“The js: namespace, sire.”
“Right. First thou pullest the colon. Then thou typest js. Then, the interop namespace being reached, thou invokest.”