Can you explain the functionality of that snippet of JavaScript code?

Can you figure out the value of r? How does it relate to Boolean operators and objects?

var data = {x:123, y:456};
var r = data && data.x || 0;

Update:

Upon running the code snippet, I noticed that r consistently equals x. However, the reason behind this outcome remained unclear to me.

Answer №1

Consider the task at hand and refer to JavaScript Operator Precedence

var r = data && data.x || 0

The && operator takes precedence over the || operator. It returns the last operand if both are true, otherwise it returns false. Therefore, the expression simplifies to:

var r = data.x || 0

Now, the || operator will return the first truthy operand, in this case, data.x:

var r  = data.x

When it comes to Javascript objects themselves, they always evaluate to true, even if empty (e.g., obj = {})

However, when validating an object's property, things change: if the property has a Boolean value of false or a numeric value of 0, it will be considered false because 0 == false but 0 !== false.

For example:

var data = { x:false, y:456 };
var r = data && data.x || 999;
In this case, r would be 999, just like if data.x was set to `0.

Answer №2

According to information from the Mozilla Developer Network (MDN),

Javascript utilizes type coercion in situations involving Booleans.

Within Javascript, there exist 8 values considered "falsy"

  • false
  • null
  • undefined
  • 0
  • NaN
  • ''
  • ""
  • document.all

In the provided example, data && data.x || 0, the use of && and || signifies Boolean context. The variable data is coerced as a Boolean. Should it not match any of the aforementioned values, it will be coerced into true.

Many developers often verify if an object is defined by checking whether it is "falsy" or not (i.e. neither null nor undefined). The given example could be rephrased as

var r = 0;
if(data && data.x){
  r = data.x;
}

This approach explicitly conveys that you are confirming the existence of data and ensuring that data.x is not falsy (such as 0). It is a common practice used to prevent null reference errors when uncertain about the validity of a variable containing an object.

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