Define the "self" global name

[guybedford]

The most widely available global is self as it is in both workers and in the main window in browsers.

It would be very useful to define this global for cross-platform support.

As a further point it could even be worth having it replace window since typeof window is typically done for an isBrowser detection, while the same cannot necessarily be said of self.

[ztplz]

Why not use global, it is more clearly.

[benjamingr]

I recommend we go with global which is stage 3 and is in the TC39 process

[kitsonk]

@benjamingr which is now not going forward with global. I would be all for that except that it is now not going to progress until an alternative name to global is identified.

Because of the global debacle I would tend to agree with @guybedford while we await the outcome of the stuck TC39 proposal.

[benjamingr]

@ljharb - any strong opinions here?

[ljharb]

self is a terrible name, and the new name is already selected. global isn’t web compatible.

For something node-like, I’d suggest either providing what node does - global - or nothing, pending the new name landing in the language (which will never be “self”).

[benjamingr]

and the new name is already selected. global isn’t web compatible.

Well, if the new name is already selected - what is it? 😅

[ljharb]

Since it’s still in the process of shipping to browsers, and since there’s a real risk of trolling and of it being not web compatible to do so, I’m trying to keep it under the radar, and I’d ask everyone here to do so as well.

Please contact me privately if there’s an urgency to know.

[benjamingr]

@ljharb 😮 ok.

As far as I'm concerned there's no urgency to know. For what it's worth I think it's entirely reasonable for the TC to not put up with trolling at any amount or capacity.

I recommend we wait for the TC.

[ljharb]

I don’t necessarily mean in a specific arena; I’m talking like people putting up websites or publishing packages that intentionally conflict with the name.

[kitsonk]

My opinion then is to just wait for the public TC39 announcement. I don't think there is any rush, and TC39 should still be ahead of a stable Deno, would be my guess.

[MasterJames]

'self' gets my NeXT vote.
Personally nothing is like hoisting and makes lots of sense to me as well.

[ry]

Why don't we just use all of them? global, self, and window?

[ljharb]

Using window or self will absolutely break code that uses the presence of those things to test for "is a browser". Neither should be set in a server environment.

[MasterJames]

All works. Let there code break, easy to fix. I think there is better ways to test for browser. Maybe testing for browser on a server is not critical either.
Still if you think how javascript not strict mode hoisted variables all you need to do is remember to initialize and in a single threaded way with scope it's not a bad solution that originally existed. Anyway I always thought self should be implied. If you are in a function, and reference a value name that's not declared it should automatically imply it's in 'self'. Is that totally junior and stupid understanding or does it not make things better to imply self?