How would you use a closure to create a private counter?

Answer:

You can create a function within an outer function (a closure) that allows you to update a private variable but the variable wouldn't be accessible from outside the function without the use of a helper function.

function counter() {
var _counter = 0;
// return an object with several functions that allow you
// to modify the private _counter variable
return {
add: function(increment) { _counter += increment; },
retrieve: function() { return 'The counter is currently at: ' + _counter; }
}
}
// error if we try to access the private variable like below
// _counter;
// usage of our counter function
var c = counter();
c.add(5);
c.add(9);
// now we can access the private variable in the following way
c.retrieve(); // => The counter is currently at: 14