(Also learn all the scenarios when this is most misunderstood.)

Prerequisite: A bit of JavaScript.
Duration: about 40 minutes.

The this keyword in JavaScript confuses new and seasoned JavaScript developers alike. This article aims to elucidate this in its entirety. By the time we make it through this article, this will be one part of JavaScript we never have to worry about again. We will understand how to use this correctly in every scenario, including the ticklish situations where it usually proves most elusive.

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We use this similar to the way we use pronouns in natural languages like English and French. We write, “John is running fast because he is trying to catch the train.”

Note the use of the pronoun “he.” We could have written this: “John is running fast because John is trying to catch the train.” We don’t reuse “John” in this manner, for if we do, our family, friends, and colleagues would abandon us. Yes, they would. Well, maybe not your family, but those of us with fair-weather friends and colleagues. In a similar graceful manner, in JavaScript, we use the this keyword as a shortcut, a referent; it refers to an object; that is, the subject in context, or the subject of the executing code. Consider this example:

var person = { firstName: "Penelope",

(For Badass JavaScript Development)

NOTICE: I have written only 2 of the 12 tips so far, but I plan to post all 12 Powerful Tips eventually.

I provide you with 12 simple, yet powerful, JavaScript tips and detailed explanation of each. These are techniques that all JavaScript programmers can use now; you needn’t be an advanced JavaScript developer to benefit from these tips. After you read all of the detailed explanations of how each technique works and when to use it, you will have become a more enlightened JavaScript developer, if you aren’t already one.

Indeed, notable JavaScript masters and enlightened JavaScript developers have been using many of these techniques to write powerful, efficient JavaScript. And in a bit, you will, too.

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1. Powerful JavaScript Idiomatic Expressions With && and ||

   You see these idiomatic expressions in JavaScript frameworks and libraries. Let’s start off with a couple of basic examples:

   Example 1: Basic “short circuting” with || (Logical OR)
   To set default values, instead of this: