For instance can a write a function using

ಠ(){}

instead of

function(){}

Note: ಠ is a valid identifier according to ECMAScript 6 / Unicode 8.0.0.

For instance can a write a function using

ಠ(){}

instead of

function(){}

Note: ಠ is a valid identifier according to ECMAScript 6 / Unicode 8.0.0.
https://mothereff.in/js-variables

• javascript
• ecmascript-6

Share Improve this question Follow asked Aug 6, 2015 at 18:20 Bryan GraceBryan Grace 1,88222 gold badges1616 silver badges3131 bronze badges 4

• 2 You're asking if you can change the language's keywords? – Dave Newton Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 18:22
• 5 function is not an identifier. – loganfsmyth Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 18:22
• You can certainly do the following: var ಠ = function(){};. – DRD Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 18:23
• or create an alias for them? – Bryan Grace Commented Aug 6, 2015 at 18:23

Add a ment  | 

3 Answers 3

Sorted by: Reset to default 6

No, you cannot.

You might be able to use something like Sweet or another JS transpiler.

The logical question that nobody has asked yet is why? My first reaction is that this is an X/Y problem, since function doesn't seem particularly onerous on its own.

The closest thing you can do is alias the Function constructor:

var ಠ = Function;

But that won't let you define functions in exactly the same way, the usage would be:

ಠ("arg1","arg2","alert('function body');if(typeof(ಠ) !== 'undefined')alert('you\'ve done a very bad thing');");

You probably shouldn't do this, though, unless you're going for some sort of golf challenge, obfuscation shenanigans, or you're making a small joke site and want to make it harder (or more amusing) for people to read your code. Don't do this for anything serious. Please.

If you don't like function(){} you can use an arrow function in ES6.

Disclaimer: arrow functions lexically bind the this value

---

var add = function(x,y) { return x + y; };

Can be written as

let add = (x,y) => x + y;

---

It's significantly less verbose when you start nesting functions too

var add = function(x) {
  return function(y) {
    return x + y;
  };
};

Can be written as

let add = x => y => x + y;