JavaScript Variable/Function Scope - a Mystery: Part2

All this time I've lived with the impression that "public" methods (declared in a prototype) cannot access "private" members of constructor functions. Turns out that this is possible, as long as the "private" member is declared without var standing in front.

	Clazz = function(num) {
	var priv = num;
	this.pub = priv;
	that = this;
	}
	Clazz.prototype.outsider = function() {
	return priv;
	}
	c = new Clazz(6);
	c.priv; // not defined
	c.pub; // 6
	c.outsider(); // not defined

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Compare it with this one:

	Clazz = function(num) {
	priv = num; // removed the var from the definition
	this.pub = priv;
	that = this;
	}
	Clazz.prototype.outsider = function() {
	return priv;
	}
	c = new Clazz(6);
	c.priv; // not defined
	c.pub; // 6
	c.outsider(); // 6!!!

view raw gistfile2.js hosted with ❤ by GitHub