Avoid chain variable assignments in JavaScript

javascript

Chaining variable assignments may seem fancy but have unintended consequences associated with it. During chaining of variable assignments, implicit global variables are created which results in polluting the global namespace.

// bad
(function example() {
  let x = y = z = 1;
  // JavaScript interprets this as
  // let x = ( y = ( z = 1 ) );
  // The let keyword only applies to variable x, variables y and z become
  // global variables and thus polluting global namespace.
}());
console.log(x); // throws ReferenceError
console.log(y); // 1
console.log(y); // 1
// good
(function example() {
  let x = 1;
  let y = x;
  let z = y;
}());
console.log(x); // throws ReferenceError
console.log(y); // throws ReferenceError
console.log(z); // throws ReferenceError

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