1

Google Analytics provide this snippet of code to copy and paste to a site:

<script>
  (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
  (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
  m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
  })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');

  ga('create', 'UA-xxxxxxxx-1', 'mysite.com');
  ga('send', 'pageview');

</script>

But the a and m variables used in the function signature are not used throughout the code at all. Is it safe to remove them? I can't see any negative implications that could arise, and I don't understand why Google put them in the first place (i.e. their code minification tools should have probably removed them in the first place).

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1 Answer 1

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3

I see a and m being used.

.insertBefore(a,m)
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3
  • You are right. Resharper marked them as unused, at first glance I also didn't see them and trusted Resharper too much. I'll file a bug report to Resharper. Thanks!
    – Ofer Zelig
    Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 0:59
  • 2
    Resharper might be getting confused because a and m aren't actually passed to the function (7 parameters declared, but only 5 arguments passed). But they are declared inside the function - it's a quick/compact way of declaring local variables without having to explicitly specify var.
    – MrWhite
    Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 14:36
  • "But they are declared inside the function" - I should perhaps have used the word initialised here, since they are declared in the function prototype.
    – MrWhite
    Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 16:16

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