What am I supposed to do

Alright let me walk you through this answer, before I begin, I want you to stop and think for a moment ask yourself these questions: What is this question asking me to do? How can I go about creating a solution for this question? What do I know?

What is the question asking me to do?

1. Create a function called arrayCounter
2. Function must take one parameter that is an array
3. Return the length of the array
4. If the parameter is a number, string, or is undefined Return 0

What do I know? For this type of challenge I believe you should:

• Be comfortable writing variables
• Be comfortable using if statements/else if statements
• How to write a function, and what parameters are
• Basic JavaScript syntax

How can I go about creating a solution for this question? If you haven't already guessed in the first question that I answered the italicized words should give hints onto what we will be using to solve this type of challenge. Now get ready for the walkthrough.

First we need to create a function called arrayCounter, here we will make the basic skeleton of that function.

function arrayCounter() {
}

Next we need to add a parameter to this function, I will call it 'array' but you can call it whatever you like.

function arrayCounter(array) {
}

We are required to return the length of the array, and as such we know to use the length statement. So let's create that return statement.

function arrayCounter(array) {
return array.length;
}

Now that is all fine and dandy, but now we need to check for the type of parameter the function is using. We should know of a statement called typeof by now that will return the type of the variable that it is affecting. Now there are multiple ways we could go about doing this, but I find that using a variable to store the type of the parameter and then comparing it in if statements is most affective.

function arrayCounter(array) {
var paramType = typeof array;

if(paramType === "undefined") { //are you undefined
return 0;
}
else if(paramType === "number") {//are you a number
return 0;
}
else if(paramType === "string") {//are you a string
return 0;
}
return array.length; //must be an array!
}

Now for readabilities sake I used 1 if statement and two else ifs but you could have easily used one if statement like so.

function arrayCounter(array) {
var paramType = typeof array;

if(paramType === "undefined" || paramType === "number" || paramType === "string") { //are you undefined, a number, or a string
return 0;
}
return array.length; //must be an array!
}

Hopefully this was of assistance to you! I recommend that you always ask those questions and do your best of answering them whenever you come across another hard challenge, or a real-world programming problem, I find that it helps make you think like a programmer! Good luck and have fun!