[isntitvacant]

I'm increasingly a fan of local named functions in JS, vs. pulling callbacks entirely out of scope. An example:

    function compile(filename, ready) {
      return fs.readFile(filename, make_fn)

      function make_fn(err, data) {
        if(err) return ready(err)

        ready(null, new Function(data))
      }
    }

Which neatly addresses the desire to retain closures, while avoiding unnecessary nesting.

Also, whenever possible, I like to nix callbacks by using Function#bind:

    res.on('data', accum.push.bind(accum))

    // vs:
    res.on('data', function(data) { accum.push(data) })

[ricardobeat]

I tend to favor one of these for clarity:

    Array.prototype.push.bind(accum)
    [].push.bind(accum)

(i realize the latter is wasteful, but arrays are so cheap that you wouldn't notice unless in a hot loop)

[masklinn]

> Also, whenever possible, I like to nix callbacks by using Function#bind:

There's one (and only one) non-DOM jquery method I enjoy for that sort of things, because it avoids repetition: $.proxy(Object, String)

    accum.push.bind(accum)

becomes

    $.proxy(accum, 'push')

I think it spells out the intent better than the bind dance.

Of course, things would still be better if javascript just bound method on instance prototype lookup.