javascript function undefined error

Question

I got stuck in something and I know it might be silly! I try to figure out what the parenthesis ")()" at the end of this code do? jsFiddle Since if I remove them it does not show any thing. I need to add more function in this part of the code but because of the parenthesis I got the errors.

(function () {

    var n = 143,
        duration = 750,
        now = new Date(Date.now() - duration),
        count = 0,
        data = d3.range(n).map(function () {
            return 0;
        });

    var margin = {
        top: 6,
        right: 0,
        bottom: 20,
        left: 40
    },
    width = 560 - margin.right,
        height = 120 - margin.top - margin.bottom;

    var x = d3.time.scale()
        .domain([now - (n - 2) * duration, now - duration])
        .range([0, width]);

    var y = d3.scale.linear()
        .range([height, 0]);

    var line = d3.svg.line()
        .interpolate("basis")
        .x(function (d, i) {
        return x(now - (n - 1 - i) * duration);
    })
        .y(function (d, i) {
        return y(d);
    });

    var svg = d3.select("body").append("p").append("svg")
        .attr("width", width + margin.left + margin.right)
        .attr("height", height + margin.top + margin.bottom)
        .style("margin-left", -margin.left + "px")
        .append("g")
        .attr("transform", "translate(" + margin.left + "," + margin.top + ")");

    svg.append("defs").append("clipPath")
        .attr("id", "clip")
        .append("rect")
        .attr("width", width)
        .attr("height", height);

    var axis = svg.append("g")
        .attr("class", "x axis")
        .attr("transform", "translate(0," + height + ")")
        .call(x.axis = d3.svg.axis().scale(x).orient("bottom"));

    var path = svg.append("g")
        .attr("clip-path", "url(#clip)")
        .append("path")
        .data([data])
        .attr("class", "line");

    tick();

    d3.select(window)
        .on("scroll", function () {
        ++count;
    });

    function tick() {

        // update the domains
        now = new Date();
        x.domain([now - (n - 2) * duration, now - duration]);
        y.domain([0, d3.max(data)]);

        // push the accumulated count onto the back, and reset the count
        data.push(Math.random()*10);
        count = 0;

        // redraw the line
        svg.select(".line")
            .attr("d", line)
            .attr("transform", null);

        // slide the x-axis left
        axis.transition()
            .duration(duration)
            .ease("linear")
            .call(x.axis);

        // slide the line left
        path.transition()
            .duration(duration)
            .ease("linear")
            .attr("transform", "translate(" + x(now - (n - 1) * duration) + ")")
            .each("end", tick);

        // pop the old data point off the front
        data.shift();

    }
})()

Thank you!!

Solution 1

You defined an anonymous functions. Usually a named function like:

function myfunc(){
   //code
}

can be called:

myfunc();

Exactly this () parenthesis are doing.It called the anonymous function on completion. If you don't want these, then named your function and call it from where you need as give example above.

Updated fiddle without Parenthesis

Solution 2

Immediately-Invoked Function Expression (IIFE)

Good reading here: http://benalman.com/news/2010/11/immediately-invoked-function-expression/

You can of course add into it any functions but because of scoping, you can call these functions only in same or deeper scope.

e.g test() function: http://jsfiddle.net/ZaJZu/