Spread it on thick

Spread it on thick

Introduction

JavaScript has a very cool feature called a spread operator. It is basically just three dots [ ... ]. The nice thing about the spread operator is that it turns an array into a list of items.

So what is useful about this?

Let's explore a little further.

For starters

You can easily create a new array and add an item to it without mutating the original.

You can do this without making use of methods like push().

No need to get pushy

Or shift().

Adding new items to the beginning of an array, without mutating the original, is just as easy.

No need to be shifty

There is also no need to use slice() when making a copy.

A big slice of cake

And to add

Because you are spreading the array into another array you make it clear to your future self, and other developers, that an array will be returned.

There are lots of other cool things you can do with the spread operator. This is just a primer.

The spread operator is not to be confused with the rest operator...

They look the same but they are actually two sides of the same coin.