// This is a self invoking function.
// The $ parameter allows you to reference the jQuery item.
(function($){

// fn is essentially the same as prototype.
// so this will be used like $('#jqueryItem).twitterize(username)
$.fn.twitterize = function(username,options){
    
     //check to see if the username has been set.
     if (username){
         
          //create an object full of your default settings.
          var defaultSettings = {
               count:'1'
          }
         
          // Finds which default settings have been overwritten by the options object
          // and creates a new object with all the new and untouched settings.
          var settings = $.extend(defaultSettings, options);
    
          // The URL for the Twitter JSON API.
          var url = "https://twitter.com/status/user_timeline/"+username+".json?count="+settings.count+"&callback=?";
         
          //Variable to get around scope problem in callback function.
          var holder = this;
         
          $.getJSON(url,
         
          //This function is called when twitter responds with the appropriate information.
         function(data){
             
              //Step through each tweet.
               $.each(data, function(i, item) {
                   
                    //place the tweet within a paragraph tag.
                    holder.append("<p>"+item.text.makeLinks()+"</p>");
    
               });
         });
        
    }else{
         //Username paramater hasn't been set.
         console.debug("jquery plugin twitterize requires a username! Check your parameters");

    }
   
   
    //Changes urls within the tweet into links.
    String.prototype.makeLinks = function() {
          return this.replace(/[A-Za-z]+:\/\/[A-Za-z0-9-_]+\.[A-Za-z0-9-_:%&\?\/.=]+/, function(str) {
         return str.link(str);
           });
      };

    
//Return itself
return this;

};

// We pass "jQuery" to the self invoking function
// so we can use whatever alias of jQeury that we like.
// So instead of "$" you could also use any other
// valid JavaScript variable name.

})(jQuery);