x = 1;
var add = function (x) {
x++;
return x;
};
setTimeout(add, 1000);
console.log(x);
Why is this not working properly? Console only says 1 and stops, but I want it the addition of x every time the add handler is called with the timeout property (1 2 3 4 and soforth). I know I can just use a for loop for this. But I'd like to know if it could be done this way also.
setTimeout is asynchronous. You tell it to execute add 1 second (1000 milliseconds) later, and it does. In the meantime, console.log(x) is executed, and logs the current value of x, 1.
In the question you say you want to see the value constantly incrementing. For that, you need to use code more like this:
var x = 1;
function add() {
x++;
console.log(x);
};
setInterval(add, 1000);
EDIT: Also, look at Quentin's bullet point 2 about masking the global variable.