Understanding JavaScript Callbacks

Callbacks are fundamental to asynchronous coding in JavaScript. In this post we try to understand callbacks with several examples.

setTimeout #

let logCallback = function(){
    console.log("logCallback function was called back.");
}
setTimeout(logCallback, 3000);

// or

setTimeout(function(){
    console.log("The function was called back.")
}, 3000);

Event Listeners #

<button type="button" id="my-button">CLICK HERE</button>

let myButton = document.getElementById("my-button");
myButton.addEventListener("click", function(){
    console.log("My Button was clicked.");
});

Create Your Own Callback #

You may choose to create your own callback. We've been using some functions available in JavaScript that accept callbacks as a parameter.

let people = [
    {name: "Yasin", age: 27, city: "Istanbul"},
    {name: "Natalia", age: 24, city: "Lutsk"},
    {name: "Json", age: 32, city: "Columbus"},
    {name: "Stefan", age: 29, city: "Istanbul"},
    {name: "Pimmy", age: 35, city: "Bangkok"},
    {name: "Rose", age: 37, city: "Novosibirsk"},
    {name: "Melis", age: 35, city: "Istanbul"},
    {name: "Linda", age: 19, city: "Birmingham"},
];

let processPeople = function(data, callback){
    for(let i = 0; i < data.length; i++){
        if(data[i].age < 30){
            if(typeof callback === "function"){
                callback(data[i]);
            }
        }
    }
}

//  Retrieve people from array who is younger than 30 years old.
processPeople(people, function(obj){
    console.log(obj)
});

//  Retrieve people from array who is younger than 30 years old & who lives in Istanbul
processPeople(people, function(obj){
    if (obj.city == "Istanbul"){
        console.log(obj)
    }
});

// Calculate age total + person count.
let determineTotal = function(){
    let ageTotal = 0,
        personCount = 0;

    processPeople(people, function(obj){
        ageTotal = ageTotal + obj.age;
        personCount++;
    });

    console.log("Age Total: " + ageTotal);
    console.log("Person Count: " + personCount);
}

determineTotal();

I wrote this blog post for consolidate my knowledge.
Main Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nau-iEEgEoM