Longest Word in a String (Help Explaining My Code)

JavaScript
1

Here is my code:

function findLongestWord(str) {
  //split string
  var arr = str.split(' ');
  var longest = 0;
  
  //run through the array
  for(var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
    var word = arr[i];
    
    //I think I got it! 
    var wordLength = word.length;
    if (wordLength > longest){
        
longest = wordLength;
    }
  }
  
  return longest;
}

findLongestWord("The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog");

It ran and it worked. I did this a week ago and did not include any comments. I was reviewing it and can’t seem to piece together how it works or why it works. I did it on the fly with a friend and now I can’t quite follow what is actually happening. Any help explaining or commenting it out would be greatly appreciated. I get lost at about the halfway point.

3

Thanks randelldawson. I just had my “aha” moment. I figured it out. I was getting lost around the wordLength variable earlier, but I think I see it now. Still not quite sure why I had to create the var longest = 0 though. My friend helped me with that part and I can’t quite remember the explanation.