What is document in JavaScript and what is its scope?

Question

var document = \"temp\";

function showDocument()
{
    alert(document); // temp or HTML DOM Document
}

It showed \"HTML DOM Document\" for me, which s

Answer 1

It's a read-only property of the global (window) object. Its value is a native object representing the current HTML/XML/whatever document loaded into the window.

To modify the DOM, use DOM manipulation APIs.

edit — to clarify, the "document" property of the window object (or, if you prefer, the global variable called "document") is itself immutable, and its value cannot be changed by JavaScript. The value, however, is a reference to an object, an object that is mutable in all sorts of ways.