DEV Community: April Craig

Conditional Ternary Operators for Beginners

April Craig — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 19:29:30 +0000

I’ve been hard at work exploring React. I’ve been following a React tutorial on FCC’s Youtube channel. While following along with the tutorial, the instructor used conditional ternary operators and that’s when I realized I have never really used them. I’ve seen the conditional ternary operator in use on several tutorials, but I’ve never really used them in my own code. So far I’ve learned the following.

According to MDN the Conditional Ternary Operator is a shortcut of an if statement and should be written using this syntax:

Condition? If true do this : If false do that

Here are some examples to clarify...

Example 1

function getAge(age){
return (age >=18? 'You are old enough': 'you are too young')
}
getAge(19)
//output: "You are old enough"

getAge(9)
//output: "you are too young"

The function getAge has a parameter of age. If the age is equal to or less than 18, the string 'You are old enough' is returned. If the age is under 18, the string 'you are too young' is returned.

Example 2

function isHungry(ateDinner){
 return (ateDinner ? 'Eat dinner': 'Drink some water')
}

isHungry(true)
//output: "Eat dinner"

isHungry(false)
//output: "Drink some water"

isHungry()
//output: "Drink some water"  null and undefined are considered falsy

The function isHungry has a parameter called ateDinner. When using ateDinner as a condition, if it is truthy ‘Eat Dinner’ will be returned. If ateDinner is falsy, ‘Drink some water’ will be returned instead. Take note of the last line. If the isHungry function is called without an argument it is falsy.

Example 3

let account = 1000;
let carPrice = (account >= 300) ? "You can buy the car" : "This car is too expensive";
console.log(carPrice)
//output: 'You can buy the car'

In this example, I am using the variable account as the condition for my conditional ternary operator.

Keep working...Keep striving...Keep coding!

Programming Guilt During COVID-19

April Craig — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 22:53:36 +0000

Across the country and around the world, people are stuck at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people are spending their time working from home, helping their kids navigate online learning and or watching their thousandth hour of Netflix. No matter what part of the world you live in, I’m sure you feel the anxiety that I am feeling while living through this pandemic.

Amid the rising number of Coronavirus cases there is this pressure to keep grinding away at code in hopes of becoming a programming superstar.

Code faster! Learn more! Be better!

This has been the general messaging that I’ve seen across the internet, particularly on social media. During these past few weeks I’ve felt like if I haven’t learned how to speak 3 languages, become a master chef and cure cancer all while creating a new full-stack application everyday, then I am not good enough. That I've been wasting my time.

If this sounds familiar to you then STOP!

These are unprecedented times. We are literally living through a pandemic. We are being told to stay at home with no end date in sight. Going outside is scary. Breathing outside is horrifying.

As for myself, there are days that I am able to concentrate and I am able to study as much as I want. On other days, I barely open my computer for an hour.

It seems the world of tech changes every 5 minutes and if you can use this time to study and build projects, then more power to you.

But for those of us who are struggling to study due to living with the anxiety brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, I want you to know that you’re not alone. Whether you are a computer science student who is struggling with attending classes online, a working developer, or a self taught developer like myself, it is ok to not be ok right now.

It is ok to feel anxious.
It is ok to be unproductive.
It is ok that you aren’t motivated to finish your latest project.

It’s ok.