This is a subject much covered in JavaScript programming annals. Here is a beginner’s link for those following in Fraffic’s taillights.
http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/truth-equality-and-javascript/
This is from Douglas Crockford’s JavaScript: The Good Parts:
For those who’ve never seen an ‘if’ statement in railroad diagram form
The if statement changes the flow of the program based on the value of the expression. The then block is executed if the expression is truthy; otherwise, the optional else branch is taken.
Here are the falsy values:
- false
- null
- undefined
- The empty string ”
- The number 0
- The number NaN
All other values are truthy, including true, the string ‘false’, and all objects.
