javascript apply vs call

8.6.4. The apply() and call() Methods

ECMAScript specifies two methods that are defined for all functions, call() and apply() . These methods allow you to invoke a function as if it were a method of some other object. The first argument to both call() and apply() is the object on which the function is to be invoked; this argument becomes the value of the this keyword within the body of the function. Any remaining arguments to call() are the values that are passed to the function that is invoked. For example, to pass two numbers to the function f() and invoke it as if it were a method of the object o , you could use code like this:

f.call(o, 1, 2);

 

This is similar to the following lines of code:

o.m = f;

o.m(1,2);

delete o.m;

 

The apply() method is like the call() method, except that the arguments to be passed to the function are specified as an array:

f.apply(o, [1,2]);

 

For example, to find the largest number in an array of numbers, you could use the apply() method to pass the elements of the array to the Math.max() function:

var biggest = Math.max.apply(null, array_of_numbers);