Question

Minimum

If you have trouble putting braces and parentheses in the right place to get a valid function definition, start by copying one of the examples in this chapter and modifying it.

A function may contain multiple return statements.

Recursion

Your function will likely look somewhat similar to the inner find function in the recursive findSolution example in this chapter, with an if / else if / else chain that tests which of the three cases applies. The final else , corresponding to the third case, makes the recursive call. Each of the branches should contain a return statement or in some other way arrange for a specific value to be returned.

When given a negative number, the function will recurse again and again, passing itself an ever more negative number, thus getting further and further away from returning a result. It will eventually run out of stack space and abort.

Bean counting

A loop in your function will have to look at every character in the string by running an index from zero to one below its length ( < string.length ). If the character at the current position is the same as the one the function is looking for, it adds 1 to a counter variable. Once the loop has finished, the counter can be returned.

Take care to make all the variables used in the function local to the function by using the var keyword.

This is a book about getting computers to do what you want them to do. Computers are about as common as screwdrivers today, but they contain a lot more hidden complexity and thus are harder to operate and understand. To many, they remain alien, slightly threatening things.