JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, Fourth Edition

Function Properties and Methods

We’ve seen that functions can be used as data values in JavaScript programs and that they can be created with the Function( ) constructor. These are sure signs that functions are actually represented by a type of JavaScript object, the Function object. Since functions are objects, they have properties and methods, just like the String and Date objects, for example. Now that we’ve discussed the call and Arguments objects that are used in the context of function invocation, let’s turn to the Function object itself.

The length Property

As we’ve seen, within the body of a function, the length property of the arguments array specifies the number of arguments that were passed to the function. The length property of a function itself, however, has a different meaning. This read-only property returns the number of arguments that the function expects to be passed -- that is, the number of parameters it declares in its parameter list. Recall that a function can be invoked with any number of arguments, which it can retrieve through the arguments array, regardless of the number of parameters it declares. The length property of the Function object specifies exactly how many declared parameters a function has. Note that unlike arguments.length, this length property is available both inside and outside of the function body.

The following code defines a function named check( ) that is passed the arguments array from another function. It compares the arguments.length ...