What is the difference between optional chaining and the ternary operator?

Can you explain the difference between optional chaining and the ternary operator in JavaScript?

Sure! Optional chaining (?.) allows you to safely access deeply nested properties without having to check each level for null or undefined. The ternary operator (condition ? expr1 : expr2) is a shorthand for an if-else statement, used to return one of two values based on a condition.

Can you give me an example of how to use optional chaining?

Absolutely! If you have an object user and want to access user.address.city, you can use optional chaining like this: user?.address?.city. This will return undefined if user or address is null or undefined, instead of throwing an error.

And how about the ternary operator?

For the ternary operator, you might write something like: const message = user ? 'User exists' : 'No user found';. This checks if user is truthy and assigns the appropriate message.

Thanks! When should I use one over the other?

Use optional chaining when you need to safely access properties in an object that may not exist, and use the ternary operator for conditional expressions where you want to choose between two values.