setTimeout(): If not defined in EcmaScript spec, where can I learn how it works?

Question

I had another question in SO about setTimeout(), where a user mentioned that if the function argument is a string it gets evaluated in global scope, other wise it's not. This was an eye-opener, so I tried to find more info about how setTimeout actually works, but it's not part of the EcmaScript spec and not even MDN had that specific of of information I found in SO.

Is there some good reference about how setTimeout() works?

In the HTML5 draft: dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html#timers — James Allardice
– James Allardice, Commented Jan 13, 2012 at 14:45
the MDN does have some useful info about it: "Code executed by setTimeout() is run in a separate execution context to the function from which it was called." — Matt K
– Matt K, Commented Jan 13, 2012 at 14:50
@MattK: Yes, but the rest of that paragraph talks about this, which is different from scope. — T.J. Crowder
– T.J. Crowder, Commented Jan 13, 2012 at 14:55
So if setTimeout and other similar API is not defined in ECMAscript, javascript itself should be synchronous language, right? can we say that? — Chris Bao
– Chris Bao, Commented Mar 21, 2020 at 1:58

T.J. Crowder · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-05 08:33:54Z

16

setTimeout and such aren't in the ECMAScript specification because they're not JavaScript features. They're features of the browser environment's window object. Other environments (Windows Scripting Host, NodeJS, etc.) won't necessarily have those features.

The W3C has been trying to standardize the window object and its various features (including setTimeout), the latest is in the timers section of the HTML5 spec. A lot of it is codifying what browsers already do, although some of it (like saying that the minimum interval value must be 4 [milliseconds]) seems (to me) to be out-of-place for an API specification and implementations seem to make up their own minds (in tests, you can see current browsers happily doing a shorter interval, with the apparent exception of Opera which appears to do what the spec says).

edited Feb 5, 2014 at 8:33

answered Jan 13, 2012 at 14:43

T.J. Crowder

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2 Comments

Pointy Over a year ago

Wow those HTML5 specs always make me seasick. But I hadn't thought about the situation with respect to web workers.

Tim Down Over a year ago

I think that W3C Window Object spec is abandoned. HTML5 completely specifies the window object, or at least attempts to.

Phil Klein · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-13 14:44:40Z

5

The setTimeout() method is a method on the window object. You can find the link to the MDN documentation below:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/DOM/window.setTimeout

answered Jan 13, 2012 at 14:44

Phil Klein

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1 Comment

Pointy Over a year ago

I just updated that with a mention of the scope used to evaluate string parameters.

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