Question

I just came across code that looks like this:

if (foo == "bar"){}else{
}

Is there a good reason for someone to write it that way instead of

if (foo != "bar") {
}

or am I just dealing with a raving lunatic (this is my assumption based on other things in the code).

Answer 1

If one of my developers wrote code that way, I’d throw it back at them with a reprimand and a copy of “Javascript: The Good Parts.” I can’t think of a single good reason for doing that.

Also, they should have written their comparison as if (foo === "bar"). Much better practice.

Edit a year and a half later:

Out of boredom I knocked together a jsperf just to see if there was any noticeable performance difference between the two methods shown in the OP, and [SPOILER WARNING] no there isn’t.

http://jsperf.com/empty-blocks-in-if-else-statement