Make lunr.js compatible with IE8

[wyuenho]

Right now the reference to undeclared vars console gives script errors in IE8. The use of ES5 method forEach makes lunr.js incompatible with IE8 too. lunr.js is perfectly capable of running in IE8 with reasonable speed, it'd be nice if these tiny issues could be fixed. If not, at least put up a notice somewhere that says which browser version is supported.

[Venemo]

I think the docs clearly state that you need to use an ES5 shim in older browsers.

[wyuenho]

Yep u are right, I was in a hurry and forgot to double check.

But then again, why? ES5 doesn't shim console and all lunr.js uses is forEach. Is it really that hard to switch to plain-old for loops? It's even faster than using callbacks with forEach.

[olivernn]

lunr uses more than just Array.prototype.forEach, there are also reduce, map and some calls in the code.

It would be possible to switch to using for loops in these cases but I think using the more modern methods makes the code simpler, easier to read and maintain.

In some more performance sensitive areas of the code lunr does use for loops, but this is a performance optimisation.

Whilst these methods could be shimmed in lunr, since I already maintain augment.js I don't really want to duplicate those efforts, also it means that you can use whatever shim you want.

I'll take a closer look at the console error, I thought the check around the call to console.warn would prevent these errors but clearly this isn't working.

I'll also include augment.js in the tests though since they should all pass regardless of what browser you are using.

[olivernn]

This has been fixed in version 0.3.3

[andreif]

@olivernn we are still having errors in IE8 with lunr v0.4.1. Could you point me to a commit fixing the issue?

[olivernn]

@andreif what errors are you seeing? Could you put together a simple jsfiddle with a reduced test case that reproduces the errors?

Also are you including an ES5 shim, either augment.js, es5-shim or similar?

[andreif]

@olivernn no, I don't include an ES5 shim, but now I see that I should. Which of them do you use?

Edit: oh, that was a stupid question :)

[olivernn]

Well I'm slightly biased here since I maintain augment.js so thats the one I use, however es5-shim is also very good. One (potential) advantage of augment.js is that you can pick and choose what shims you actually include, this may or may not be an issue for you.

Either one would be a fine choice though and will allow you to take advantage of the features of ES5 in your code.

[andreif]

Oh, now I regret not reading your previous comments completely. I wonder what stopped me from doing that...

[olivernn]

That's ok, let me know if you have any other problems with any version of IE you use lunr.js in.