Why do we have to return the callback in the getJSON()?

Hey there Crystal Vesely ! 👋

This is also explained in the Teacher's Notes below the video, but to put it in other words for hope of clarification:

I haven't watched this video to get caught up on exactly what's going on with the rest of the code, but from the Teacher's Notes it appears using the return keyword is not necessary in this setting.

In general though, the return callback(data) statement could serve a specific purpose: It executes the callback function with the parsed JSON data as an argument. It then returns the result of the callback function to the caller of the parent function.

Here's what's happening step by step:

• The JSON data is parsed and stored in the data variable.
• The callback function is invoked with data as its argument.
• The return statement ensures that whatever the callback function returns is also returned by the parent function.

This pattern is often used in asynchronous operations to handle the retrieved data. The key differences when using return callback(data) are:

• It allows the caller to receive the processed result of the callback function.
• It provides a way to chain operations or use the result in a more flexible manner.
• In the first example where return wasn't used, the callback was likely just performing an action without needing to return a value to the caller. The use of return here allows for more versatility in how the data is handled after processing.

I hope this makes sense!