What exactly is type coercion in Javascript?
For example, on the use of ==
instead of ===
?
Type coercion is the process of converting value from one type to another (such as string to number, object to boolean, and so on). Any type, be it primitive or an object, is a valid subject for type coercion. To recall, primitives are: number, string, boolean, null, undefined + Symbol (added in ES6).
Type coercion can be explicit and implicit.
When a developer expresses the intention to convert between types by writing the appropriate code, like Number(value), it’s called explicit type coercion (or type casting).
Since JavaScript is a weakly-typed language, values can also be converted between different types automatically, and it is called implicit type coercion. It usually happens when you apply operators to values of different types, like 1 == null, 2/’5', null + new Date(), or it can be triggered by the surrounding context, like with if (value) {…}, where value is coerced to boolean.
here is some example for implicit type coercion:
true + false
12 / "6"
"number" + 15 + 3
15 + 3 + "number"
[1] > null
"foo" + + "bar"
'true' == true
false == 'false'
null == ''
!!"false" == !!"true"
[‘x’] == ‘x’
[] + null + 1
[1,2,3] == [1,2,3]
{}+[]+{}+[1]
!+[]+[]+![]
new Date(0) - 0
new Date(0) + 0
read more: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/js-type-coercion-explained-27ba3d9a2839/