NOT NOT, Not Working As Expected

First, NOT NOT ...

The single ! converts a value to its truthy or falsey value, which is technically a boolean. But if you need to a real boolean representation of a value for your expression you must convert it to a real boolean value using a double not, !!.

In my head, I could see the conversion. I hear myself evaluating it as "does this object exist." Knowing that was wrong, I still dug into the code to find out why things were breaking in other areas.

Here's a simple example of the faulty (logic) code.

const data = { params: { type: '' } };

if (!!data.params && !!data.params.type) {
  // do something here
}

This code refused to go inside the IF-BLOCK.

After digging into the console, I realized ...

!!data.params
// true

!!data.params.type
// false

What I quickly realized is that I got bit by a simple logic issue. An empty string equates to false, while a string with something in it equates to true.

A better set of logic would have been to use the IN operator.

const data = { params: { type: '' } };

if (('params' in data) && ('type' in data.params)) {
  // do something here
}

Then, the inner code for the IF-BLOCK would have worked properly.

Another method that can be used is the hasOwnProperty method ...

const data = { params: { type: '' } };

if (data.hasOwnProperty('params') && data.params.hasOwnProperty('type')) {
  // do something here
}

Generally, I prefer the first of the two solutions. To me, this seems more readable, but that's my preference.

Comments

[Kevin Alemán]

Hey! Just a couple of things:

In your example with if ('params' in data) && ('type' in data.params)) { you're missing a ( from the if statement.

The True and False are more python things, maybe you can use true and false.

Good article! Keep it up!

[bob.ts]

I'll make the adjustments now. Thanks for catching the missing paren.