Hey everyone! I’m curious about what more experienced Javascript developers think about different ways to check object properties. I’ve got two examples and I’d love to hear your thoughts on which one you think is better and why.
Here’s the object we’re working with:
const myObj = {
items: [10, 20, 30]
}
Now, here are the two ways to check it:
Option A:
if (myObj && myObj.items && myObj.items.length > 0) {
// Do something
}
Option B:
if (myObj?.items?.length > 0) {
// Do something
}
Which one do you prefer? Is there a reason you’d choose one over the other? I’m really interested in learning about the pros and cons of each approach. Thanks for sharing your expertise!
I’ve been using both approaches in different projects, and I can share some insights. While Option B with optional chaining is indeed cleaner, I’ve found it can sometimes mask underlying issues in data structures. In larger projects, explicit checks like in Option A can help catch unexpected null values earlier, making debugging easier.
That said, I’ve started leaning more towards a hybrid approach. I use optional chaining for deeply nested properties, but still prefer explicit checks for critical object properties. It’s a balance between code readability and robustness.
One trick I’ve found useful is combining destructuring with default values:
const { items = [] } = myObj || {};
if (items.length > 0) {
// Do something
}
This approach provides a nice middle ground, handling potential undefined values while keeping the code concise and clear.
As a seasoned JavaScript developer, I’d opt for Option B using the optional chaining operator (?.). It’s more concise and readable, which is crucial when dealing with complex codebases. The optional chaining operator gracefully handles undefined or null values without throwing errors, making your code more robust.
That said, there’s a slight performance overhead with optional chaining, but it’s negligible in most cases. The real benefit comes in maintainability and reduced cognitive load when reading the code. Just be aware that it’s not supported in older browsers, so if you’re working on a project that needs to support IE11 or older, you might need to stick with Option A or use a transpiler.
In production code, I often combine optional chaining with the nullish coalescing operator (??) for even more elegant property checks and default value assignments.
I’d go with Option B. It’s way cleaner and saves time typing. plus, it’s easier to read when you’re knee-deep in code at 2 AM 
Just remember it might not work on older browsers, so keep that in mind depending on ur project. But yeah, B all the way!