20 JavaScript: Shorthand Techniques that will save your time
Tags: javascript, beginners, programming, tutorial
Published: 2023-01-05 08:33:31

The shorthand techniques of any programming language help you to write more clean and optimized code. Shorthand techniques improve readability of your code and you can achieve your goal with less coding. Let’s discuss some of the shorthand techniques of JavaScript one by one.

**1. Declaring variables**

```
//Longhand 
let x; let y = 20; 

//Shorthand 
let x, y = 20;
```
**2. Assigning values to multiple variables**
We can assign values to multiple variables in one line with array destructuring.

```
//Longhand 
let a, b, c; 
a = 5; 
b = 8; 
c = 12;

//Shorthand 
let [a, b, c] = [5, 8, 12];
```
**3. The Ternary operator**
We can save 5 lines of code here with ternary (conditional) operator.

```
//Longhand 
let number = 26; 
let isEven; 
if(number % 2){
 isEven = true; 
}else{ 
 isEven = false; 
} 
//Shorthand 
let isEven = number % 2 ? true : false;
```
**4. Assigning default value**
We can use `OR(||)`short circuit evaluation to assign a default value to a variable in case the expected value found empty.

```
//Longhand 
let imagePath; 
let path = getImagePath(); 
if(path !== null && path !== undefined && path !== '') { 
  imagePath = path; 
} else { 
  imagePath = 'default.jpg'; 
} 

//Shorthand 
let imagePath = getImagePath() || 'default.jpg';
```
**5. AND(&&) Short circuit evaluation**
If you are calling a function only if a variable is true, then using `AND(&&)` short circuit you can do it in a single line.

```
//Longhand 
if (isLoggedin) {
 goToHomepage(); 
} 

//Shorthand 
isLoggedin && goToHomepage();
```
Here in shorthand technique, if `isLoggedin` returns true, then only `goToHomepage() `will execute.

**6. Swap two variables**
To swap two variables, we often use a third variable. We can swap two variables easily with array destructuring assignment.

```
let x = 'Hello', y = 55; 

//Longhand 
const temp = x; 
x = y; 
y = temp; 

//Shorthand 
[x, y] = [y, x];
```
**7. Arrow Function**

```
//Longhand 
function add(num1, num2) { 
   return num1 + num2; 
} 

//Shorthand 
const add = (num1, num2) => num1 + num2;
```
**8. Template Literals**
We normally use + operator to concatenate string values with variables. With ES6 template literals we can do it in a more simple way.

```
//Longhand 
console.log('You got a missed call from ' + number + ' at ' + time); 

//Shorthand 
console.log(`You got a missed call from ${number} at ${time}`);
```
**9. Destructuring Assignment Shorthand**
If you are working with any popular web framework, there are high chances you will be using arrays or data in the form of object literals to pass information between components and APIs. Once the data object reaches a component, you’ll need to unpack it.

```
//Longhand 
const observable = require('mobx/observable');
const action = require('mobx/action');
const runInAction = require('mobx/runInAction');

const store = this.props.store;
const form = this.props.form;
const loading = this.props.loading;
const errors = this.props.errors;
const entity = this.props.entity;
```

```
// Shorthand
import { observable, action, runInAction } from 'mobx';

const { store, form, loading, errors, entity } = this.props;
```

You can even assign your own variable names:

```
const { store, form, loading, errors, entity:contact } = this.props;
```


**10. Multiple condition checking**
For multiple value matching, we can put all values in array and use indexOf() method.

```
//Longhand 
if (value === 1 || value === 'one' || value === 2 || value === 'two') { 
// Execute some code 
} 

// Shorthand 
if ([1, 'one', 2, 'two'].indexOf(value) >= 0) { 
// Execute some code 
}
```
**11. Object Property Assignment**
If the variable name and object key name is same then we can just mention variable name in object literals instead of both key and value. JavaScript will automatically set the key same as variable name and assign the value as variable value.

let firstname = 'Amitav'; 
let lastname = 'Mishra'; 

```

//Longhand 
let obj = {firstname: firstname, lastname: lastname}; 

//Shorthand 
let obj = {firstname, lastname};
```
**12. String into a Number**
There are built in methods like parseInt and parseFloat available to convert a string to number. We can also do this by simply providing a unary operator (+) in front of string value.

```
//Longhand 
let total = parseInt('453'); 
let average = parseFloat('42.6'); 

//Shorthand 
let total = +'453'; 
let average = +'42.6';
```
**13. Repeat a string for multiple times**
To repeat a string for a specified number of time you can use a for loop. But using the repeat() method we can do it in a single line.

```
//Longhand 
let str = ''; 
for(let i = 0; i < 5; i ++) { 
  str += 'Hello '; 
} 
console.log(str); // Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello 

// Shorthand 
'Hello '.repeat(5);
```

> Tip: Want to apologize to someone by sending 100 times “sorry”? Try it with _repeat()_ method. If you want to repeat each string in a new line, then add _\n_ to the string.

```
'sorry\n'.repeat(100);
```

**14. Exponent Power**
We can use Math.pow() method to find the power of a number. There is a shorter syntax to do it with double asterik (**).

```
//Longhand 
const power = Math.pow(4, 3); // 64 

// Shorthand 
const power = 4**3; // 64
```
**15. Double NOT bitwise operator (~~)**
The double NOT bitwise operator is a substitute for Math.floor() method.

```
//Longhand 
const floor = Math.floor(6.8); // 6 

// Shorthand 
const floor = ~~6.8; // 6
```
**16. Find max and min number in array**
We can use for loop to loop through each value of array and find the max or min value. We can also use the Array.reduce() method to find the max and min number in array.But using spread operator we can do it in a single line.

```
// Shorthand 
const arr = [2, 8, 15, 4]; 
Math.max(...arr); // 15 
Math.min(...arr); // 2
```
**17. For loop**
To loop through an array we normally use the traditional for loop. We can make use of the for...of loop to iterate through arrays. To access the index of each value we can use for...in loop.

```
let arr = [10, 20, 30, 40]; 

//Longhand 
for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) { 
  console.log(arr[i]); 
} 
//Shorthand 
//for of loop 
for (const val of arr) { 
  console.log(val); 
} 
//for in loop 
for (const index in arr) { 
  console.log(arr[index]); 
}
We can also loop through object properties using for...in loop.

let obj = {x: 20, y: 50}; 
for (const key in obj) { 
  console.log(obj[key]); 
}
```
**18. Merging of arrays**

```
let arr1 = [20, 30]; 

//Longhand 
let arr2 = arr1.concat([60, 80]); 
// [20, 30, 60, 80] 

//Shorthand 
let arr2 = [...arr1, 60, 80]; 
// [20, 30, 60, 80]
```
**19. Deep cloning of multi-level object**
To deep clone a multi-level object, we can iterate through each property and check if the current property contains an object. If yes, then do a recursive call to the same function by passing the current property value (i.e. the nested object).We can also do it by using JSON.stringify() and JSON.parse() in a single line.

```
let obj = {x: 20, y: {z: 30}}; 

//Longhand 
const makeDeepClone = (obj) => { 
  let newObject = {}; 
  Object.keys(obj).map(key => { 
    if(typeof obj[key] === 'object'){ 
      newObject[key] = makeDeepClone(obj[key]); 
    } else { 
      newObject[key] = obj[key]; 
    } 
  }); 
 return newObject; 
} 
const cloneObj = makeDeepClone(obj); 

//Shorthand 
const cloneObj = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(obj));
```
**20. Get character from string**

```
let str = 'jscurious.com'; 

//Longhand 
str.charAt(2); // c 

//Shorthand 
str[2]; // c
```

## Thanks for reading!