Chapter 1, Closures and Scope, inserting empty environment

[zackgao]

// top of the file
(function () {

// ... lots of JavaScript ...

})();
// bottom of the file
The effect is to insert a new, empty environment in between the global environment and your own functions: {x: 1, '..': {'..': global environment}}

Why is this true? Also, there is no argument to the function, so x: 1 is confusing. Previously you wrote "The environment for (function (y) { return x })(2) is actually {y: 2, '..': {x: 1, ...}}". If we changed the underlying example for this to:

(function () {
return function (y) {
return x
}
})(2)()

After taking out the parameters/arguments for the outer function, the environment for the closure is {y: 2, '..': {'..': global environment}}. This environment has the same structure as the first example, but the structure of the code is quite different.