The difference is that functionOne
is a function expression and so only defined when that line is reached, whereas functionTwo
is a function declaration and is defined as soon as its surrounding function or script is executed (due to hoisting).
For example, a function expression:
// TypeError: functionOne is not a function
functionOne();
var functionOne = function() {
console.log("Hello!");
};
And, a function declaration:
// Outputs: "Hello!"
functionTwo();
function functionTwo() {
console.log("Hello!");
}
Historically, function declarations defined within blocks were handled inconsistently between browsers. Strict mode (introduced in ES5) resolved this by scoping function declarations to their enclosing block.
'use strict';
{ // note this block!
function functionThree() {
console.log("Hello!");
}
}
functionThree(); // ReferenceError