How to find the sum of an array of numbers

Question

Given an array [1, 2, 3, 4], how can I find the sum of its elements? (In this case, the sum would be 10.)

I thought $.each might be useful,

Answer 1

Cool tricks here, I've got a nit pick with a lot of the safe traditional answers not caching the length of the array.

function arraySum(array){
  var total = 0,
      len = array.length;

  for (var i = 0; i < len; i++){
    total += array[i];
  }

  return total;
};

var my_array = [1,2,3,4];

// Returns 10
console.log( arraySum( my_array ) );

Without caching the length of the array the JS compiler needs to go through the array with every iteration of the loop to calculate the length, it's unnecessary overhead in most cases. V8 and a lot of modern browsers optimize this for us, so it is less of a concern then it was, but there are older devices that benefit from this simple caching.

If the length is subject to change, caching's that could cause some unexpected side effects if you're unaware of why you're caching the length, but for a reusable function who's only purpose is to take an array and add the values together it's a great fit.

Here's a CodePen link for this arraySum function. http://codepen.io/brandonbrule/pen/ZGEJyV

It's possible this is an outdated mindset that's stuck with me, but I don't see a disadvantage to using it in this context.