Question

I decided to create simple isEven and isOdd function with a very simple algorithm:

function isEven(n) {
  n = Number(n);
  return n === 0 || !!(n && !(n%2));
}

function isOdd(n) {
  return isEven(Number(n) + 1);
}

That is OK if n is with certain parameters, but fails for many scenarios. So I set out to create robust functions that deliver correct results for as many scenarios as I could, so that only integers within the limits of javascript numbers are tested, everything else returns false (including + and – infinity). Note that zero is even.

// Returns true if:
//
//    n is an integer that is evenly divisible by 2
//
// Zero (+/-0) is even
// Returns false if n is not an integer, not even or NaN
// Guard against empty string

(function (global) {

  function basicTests(n) {

    // Deal with empty string
    if (n === '') 
      return false;

    // Convert n to Number (may set to NaN)
    n = Number(n);

    // Deal with NaN
    if (isNaN(n)) 
      return false;

    // Deal with infinity - 
    if (n === Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY || n === Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY)
      return false;

    // Return n as a number
    return n;
  }

  function isEven(n) {

    // Do basic tests
    if (basicTests(n) === false)
      return false;

    // Convert to Number and proceed
    n = Number(n);

    // Return true/false
    return n === 0 || !!(n && !(n%2));
  }
  global.isEven = isEven;

  // Returns true if n is an integer and (n+1) is even
  // Returns false if n is not an integer or (n+1) is not even
  // Empty string evaluates to zero so returns false (zero is even)
  function isOdd(n) {

    // Do basic tests
    if (basicTests(n) === false)
      return false;

    // Return true/false
    return n === 0 || !!(n && (n%2));
  }
  global.isOdd = isOdd;

}(this));

Can anyone see any issues with the above? Is there a better (i.e. more accurate, faster or more concise without being obfuscated) version?

There are various posts relating to other languages, but I can’t seem to find a definitive version for ECMAScript.

Answer 1

Use modulus:

function isEven(n) {
   return n % 2 == 0;
}

function isOdd(n) {
   return Math.abs(n % 2) == 1;
}

You can check that any value in Javascript can be coerced to a number with:

Number.isFinite(parseFloat(n))

This check should preferably be done outside the isEven and isOdd functions, so you don’t have to duplicate error handling in both functions.