Top 10 JavaScript Hacks Every Developer Should Know

JavaScript is one of the most versatile and widely-used programming languages in the world. Whether you're building a simple website or a complex web application, knowing a few clever JavaScript hacks can save you time, improve your code's efficiency, and make you a more effective developer. In this article, we’ll explore 10 JavaScript hacks that every developer should know.

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1. Destructuring Assignment for Cleaner Code

Destructuring allows you to extract values from arrays or objects into distinct variables. This can make your code cleaner and more readable.

// Object Destructuring
const user = { name: 'John', age: 30 };
const { name, age } = user;
console.log(name); // John
console.log(age);  // 30

// Array Destructuring
const numbers = [1, 2, 3];
const [first, second] = numbers;
console.log(first); // 1
console.log(second); // 2

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2. Optional Chaining (?.)

Optional chaining is a lifesaver when dealing with nested objects. It prevents errors when trying to access properties of undefined or null.

const user = { profile: { name: 'Alice' } };
console.log(user.profile?.name); // Alice
console.log(user.settings?.theme); // undefined (no error)

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3. Nullish Coalescing Operator (??)

The nullish coalescing operator (??) is a logical operator that returns the right-hand side operand when the left-hand side is null or undefined.

const foo = null ?? 'default';
console.log(foo); // 'default'

const bar = 0 ?? 'default';
console.log(bar); // 0 (because 0 is not null or undefined)

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4. Short-Circuit Evaluation

Use logical operators (&&, ||) for concise conditional logic.

// Instead of:
if (isLoggedIn) {
  showDashboard();
}

// Use:
isLoggedIn && showDashboard();

// Default values:
const username = user.name || 'Guest';

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5. Template Literals for Dynamic Strings

Template literals (backticks) make it easy to create dynamic strings without messy concatenation.

const name = 'John';
const age = 30;
console.log(`My name is ${name} and I am ${age} years old.`);

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🔗 Read the full article on Medium: Top 10 JavaScript Hacks Every Developer Should Know

Happy coding! ✨