Useful JavaScript Game Extensions: Array#first and Array#last

Part 9 and 10 of 256: Array#first and Array#last

The first and last methods of array objects provide a nice semantic wrapper for the concepts. They aren’t really a big time saver, though it is probably very slightly easier to type first than [0]. It is also fairly uncommon to need these methods with much regularity, but when you do need them it’s nice to have them.

/**
 * Returns the first element of the array, undefined if the array is empty.
 *
 * @returns The first element, or undefined if the array is empty.
 * @type Object
 */
Array.prototype.first = function() {
  return this[0];
};

/**
 * Returns the last element of the array, undefined if the array is empty.
 *
 * @returns The last element, or undefined if the array is empty.
 * @type Object
 */
Array.prototype.last = function() {
  return this[this.length - 1];
};

Author: Daniel X

Heretic priest of the Machine God. I enjoy crawling around in Jeff Bezo's spaceship, bringing technology to the people, and long walks outside of time and space. View all posts by Daniel X