undefined vs not defined in JavaScript:
undefined:
In JavaScript, undefined is a primitive value and a type. It is the default value assigned to variables that are declared but not yet assigned any value.
The JavaScript engine automatically assigns undefined when memory is allocated to a variable. This happens during the memory allocation phase.
undefined is placeholder which kept inside variable
Example:
var x; // Declaration console.log(x); // undefined (no value assigned yet)
not defined:
This refers to a variable that has not been declared at all. When you try to access such a variable, you’ll get a ReferenceError.
Example:
console.log(y); // ReferenceError: y is not defined
Here,
y
is not declared anywhere, so trying to access it will result in a runtime error.
Differences between undefined and an empty value:
Empty value:
An empty value can be null or an empty string (""), but undefined is different.
undefined indicates that a variable has been declared but hasn’t been assigned any value yet.
An empty string ("") is a valid value that is assigned to a variable.
Example:
var a = "";
console.log(a); // Output: ""
So, undefined is not the same as an empty value or null.
JavaScript's Dynamic Typing:
JavaScript is a loosely typed language, meaning variables don’t have fixed types. we can assign different types of values to a variable after its declaration. Here’s an example:
var x; // Declare x without assigning a value
console.log(x); // Output: undefined
x = 100; // Assign a number to x
console.log(x); // Output: 100
x = "Sujay"; // Assign a string to x
console.log(x); // Output: Sujay
Bad Practice:
Assigning undefined manually to a variable is not recommended:
var a = undefined; // Not a good practice
Important: Even though undefined is a value, it should not be manually assigned to variables. It is considered bad practice because it makes code harder to understand and debug.