Logical Assignment Operators

By  on  

I love JavaScript, it's my favorite programming language, but I love dipping into other languages because they offer a new perspective on coding paradigms. There've been syntax additions to JavaScript that I've seen I found interesting (think ?? in optional chaining) and now we get more -- logical assignment operators. Let's check out how they can be used!

||=

Or-Or-Equals is used to assign a value when one doesn't exist:

let name;
const defaultName = "Guest";

name ||= defaultName;
// name >> "Guest"

// Equivalent: name || (name = defaultName);

??=

Question-Question-Equals assigns value when the value is undefined:

const j = 1;
j??= 10
// j >> 1

x = undefined;
x ??= 10
// x >> 10

&&=

And-And-Equals assigns value to the last in line when both are defined:

let name;
const defaultName = "Guest";

name &&= defaultName;
name >> undefined

// Both have values
let name = "David";
const defaultName = "Guest";

name &&= defaultName;
// name >> "Guest"

// Equivalent: name && (name = defaultName);

I do worry, at least in the short term, that this new syntax could be hard to maintain, but just like every other new language feature, we'll get used to it!

Recent Features

  • By
    CSS Animations Between Media Queries

    CSS animations are right up there with sliced bread. CSS animations are efficient because they can be hardware accelerated, they require no JavaScript overhead, and they are composed of very little CSS code. Quite often we add CSS transforms to elements via CSS during...

  • By
    CSS 3D Folding Animation

    Google Plus provides loads of inspiration for front-end developers, especially when it comes to the CSS and JavaScript wonders they create. Last year I duplicated their incredible PhotoStack effect with both MooTools and pure CSS; this time I'm going to duplicate...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Image Reflection with jQuery and MooTools

    One subtle detail that can make a big difference on any web design is the use of image reflections. Using them too often can become obnoxious but using reflections on large, "masthead" images is a classy enhancement. Unfortunately creating image reflections within your...

  • By
    Xbox Live Gamer API

    My sharpshooter status aside, I've always been surprised upset that Microsoft has never provided an API for the vast amount of information about users, the games they play, and statistics within the games. Namely, I'd like to publicly shame every n00b I've baptized with my...

Discussion

    Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!