What are the Alternatives to eval in JavaScript?

Solution 1:

function StrippedExample(i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7, i8) {
    var args = [i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7, i8]; // put values in an array
    this.i = [];
    for (var i=0,j=0 ;i<8;i++) { // now i goes from 0-7 also
        var k = args[i]; // get values out
        if (k > 0) {
            this.i[j++] = k;
        }
    }
}

The above code can be simplified further, I just made the minimal change to get rid of eval. You can get rid of j, for example:

function StrippedExample(i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7, i8) {
    var args = [i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7, i8];
    this.i = [];
    for (var i = 0; i < args.length; i++) {
        var k = args[i];
        if (k > 0) { this.i.push(k); }
    }
}

is equivalent. Or, to use the built-in arguments object (to avoid having your parameter list in two places):

function StrippedExample(i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7, i8) {
    this.i = [];
    for (var i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) {
        var k = arguments[i];
        if (k > 0) { this.i.push(k); }
    }
}

Even if you weren't filtering the list, you don't want to do something like this.i = arguments because arguments is not a real Array; it has a callee property that you don't need and is missing some array methods that you might need in i. As others have pointed out, if you want to quickly convert the arguments object into an array, you can do so with this expression:

Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments)

You could use that instead of the var args = [i1, i2 ... lines above.

Solution 2:

Eval alternative:

exp = '1 + 1'
x = Function('return ' + exp)()
console.log(x)