Like what you have to say. Your blog makes good since to me.


function addHandler() {
 var el = document.getElementById('el');
 el.onclick = function() {
  this.style.backgroundColor = 'red';
 }
}

The anonymous function does not reference el, but the ‘this’ keyword which is context dependent. When the onclick event is fired, the HTML node ‘el’ would be considered ‘this’, but it is only implicit – not an explicit link.

Had the example been formed as the following, then yes, I can see a potential memory leak.

function addHandler() {
 var el = document.getElementById('el');
 el.onclick = function() {
  el.style.backgroundColor = 'red';
 }
}


Or am I missing something?

-mikepk