Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

JavaScript JavaScript Basics (Retired) Making Decisions with Conditional Statements Booleans

Posted by Michael Abtan
Michael Abtan
2,409 Points

Booleans can also be treated with 1 and 0.

The attached code should be correct.

script.js 
if (1) {
    alert('This is true');
} else {
    alert('This is false');
}
index.html 
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
  <title>JavaScript Basics</title>
</head>
<body>
<script src="script.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

3 Answers

Marcus Parsons
Marcus Parsons
15,719 Points

Hey Michael,

Although 1 is considered a truthy value and 0 is considered a falsey value, they are not strictly boolean values. You have to use the boolean true in this challenge.

Michael Abtan
Michael Abtan
2,409 Points
Michael Abtan
Michael Abtan
2,409 Points

Thank you for the quick reply Marcus.

I've figured out the answer I need in order to pass the challenge rather quickly, but I still can't see the difference.

As far as I know, I can use 1 instead of true anywhere. For example:

var bool = true; if (bool == 1) alert (true); //will alert 'true'

Marcus Parsons
Marcus Parsons
15,719 Points

Absolutely, you can use 1 in place of true in a non strict comparison using ==, which is also what happens when you leave off any comparison operators: you get a non-strict comparison to a truthy value. However, the best practice for comparison is using ===. Also, the challenge explicitly says to use a boolean value. 1 is not a boolean value. 

var bool = true;
//will not alert
if (bool === 1) {
alert('true');
}
Michael Abtan
Michael Abtan
2,409 Points
Michael Abtan
Michael Abtan
2,409 Points

I understand now. Thank you for elaborating on this.

Marcus Parsons
Marcus Parsons
15,719 Points

No problem, Michael. Do some digging on using == and === in JavaScript, and you'll find that any reputable web development source recommends doing a strict comparison when having to compare to a value because == can do some really wonky things. == forces a type conversion whenever it does a comparison, and this can result in some really whacky comparisons.