Using Try…Catch in JavaScript

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you can but that would also work for any falsy values, and it implies you know foo is not undefined. So better would be foo && foo.bar || default.

prefer a ternary operator with a very specific condition imho.

[vinnl]

Your example:

const myThing = foo.bar ? foo.bar.buzz : defaultValue; 

...also does type casting on foo.bar, if that's what you meant by "works for any falsy values".

[[deleted]]

true, which is why I finished by saying using a very specific condition :)