--- title: Day 183 of Everyday Programming | daily.dev description: A brief overview of JavaScript arrow functions introduced in ES6, covering their shorter syntax, lexical `this` binding, inability to be used as constructors,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/day-183-of-everyday-programming-80cam6dcg twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Day 183 of Everyday Programming | daily.dev og:description: A brief overview of JavaScript arrow functions introduced in ES6, covering their shorter syntax, lexical `this` binding, inability to be used as constructors,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/day-183-of-everyday-programming-80cam6dcg og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/80caM6DcG.png og:image:alt: Day 183 of Everyday Programming og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Day 183 of Everyday Programming **[Medium](https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js)** · 1 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A brief overview of JavaScript arrow functions introduced in ES6, covering their shorter syntax, lexical `this` binding, inability to be used as constructors, and lack of an `arguments` object. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why doesn't an arrow function have its own this value in JavaScript? Arrow functions do not bind their own this; instead, this is taken from the surrounding lexical scope where the arrow function is defined. This means an arrow function used inside a method or callback inherits this from the enclosing context rather than from how it is called, unlike regular functions. _Developers debugging unexpected this behavior in callbacks can find clear explanations like this on daily.dev._ ### Can I use an arrow function as a constructor with the new keyword in JavaScript? No, arrow functions cannot be used as constructors with the new keyword. They also lack an arguments object, which regular functions have access to, and rely instead on rest parameters if variadic arguments are needed. These are core limitations introduced alongside arrow function syntax in ES6. _Anyone choosing between arrow and regular functions can review these tradeoffs on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Day 181 of Everyday Programming](https://daily.dev/posts/day-181-of-everyday-programming-vln5p67eo) · Medium · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#javascript](https://daily.dev/tags/javascript) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/day-183-of-everyday-programming-80cam6dcg) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Day 183 of Everyday Programming","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/day-183-of-everyday-programming-80cam6dcg","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/day-183-of-everyday-programming-80cam6dcg"},"datePublished":"2026-07-24T20:09:14.484Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T20:42:14.110Z","description":"A brief overview of JavaScript arrow functions introduced in ES6, covering their shorter syntax, lexical `this` binding, inability to be used as constructors,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/d6ab0a9a223ee01bc82d647f54feb2d2?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/d6ab0a9a223ee01bc82d647f54feb2d2?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Medium","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Medium","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/medium","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/day-183-of-everyday-programming-80cam6dcg","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"javascript","timeRequired":"PT1M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Medium","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/medium_js"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Day 183 of Everyday Programming"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/day-183-of-everyday-programming-80cam6dcg#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why doesn't an arrow function have its own this value in JavaScript?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Arrow functions do not bind their own this; instead, this is taken from the surrounding lexical scope where the arrow function is defined. This means an arrow function used inside a method or callback inherits this from the enclosing context rather than from how it is called, unlike regular functions. Developers debugging unexpected this behavior in callbacks can find clear explanations like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Can I use an arrow function as a constructor with the new keyword in JavaScript?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No, arrow functions cannot be used as constructors with the new keyword. They also lack an arguments object, which regular functions have access to, and rely instead on rest parameters if variadic arguments are needed. These are core limitations introduced alongside arrow function syntax in ES6. Anyone choosing between arrow and regular functions can review these tradeoffs on daily.dev."}}]} ```