couchapp+evently: _init/data.js and $$(this)

Question

I'm reading the couchapp tutorial http://couchapp.org/page/evently-do-it-yourself-ii-state and am confused on two points (I don't like being told answers without knowing why they are what they are):

$ cat data.js
function(e) {
  $$(this).toppings = [];
}

• What's the "e" parameter in data.js?
• What exactly does the $$(this) function return, and how do I find out more about it? Is it solely user-definable state, or are there methods or special state parameters that I need to know about?

Answer 1

You can find more about $$() in this post from wycats, as reported in the sources.

I don't use Evently any more, so I don't remember what the e parameter is. However you can easily check it using Firebug.