JavaScript OR (||) variable assignment explanation

Question

Given this snippet of JavaScript...

var a;
var b = null;
var c = undefined;
var d = 4;
var e = \'five\';

var f = a || b || c || d || e;

alert(f); // 4
         


        

Answer 1

According to the Bill Higgins' Blog post; the Javascript logical OR assignment idiom (Feb. 2007), this behavior is true as of v1.2 (at least)

He also suggests another use for it (quoted): "lightweight normalization of cross-browser differences"

// determine upon which element a Javascript event (e) occurred
var target = /*w3c*/ e.target || /*IE*/ e.srcElement;