Javascript - Assigning null to a variable mistake

Question

I tried to run this code.

var is_null = null;
console.log(typeof is_null);

why 'is_null' is showing me Object when i watched in in the Console. How Null can be an Object. is Null an object in Javascript? please tell me if its a bug or it has some history behind it.

Null is not an object in any language. then why Null is an Object or shown as Object (in console) in JavaScript?

my question is different. why NULL is an object in JS? Null can't be object we all know that. then why console shows its an object? — rameezmeans, Apr 22 '18 at 06:22

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 22 '18 at 06:30

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Guys I saw something here.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/typeof

In the first implementation of JavaScript, JavaScript values were represented as a type tag and a value. The type tag for objects was 0. null was represented as the NULL pointer (0x00 in most platforms). Consequently, null had 0 as type tag, hence the bogus typeof return value. (reference)

A fix was proposed for ECMAScript (via an opt-in), but was rejected. It would have resulted in typeof null === 'null'.

// This stands since the beginning of JavaScript
typeof null === 'object';

can someone please explain this? because i did not get it entirely.

answered Apr 22 '18 at 06:30

rameezmeans

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It means that a mistake was made in the design. On the web, bugs don't get it fixed... – Aluan Haddad Apr 22 '18 at 06:31
yes. it is a mistake. may its handled in strict mode. – rameezmeans Apr 22 '18 at 06:33
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http://2ality.com/2013/10/typeof-null.html – Paul Apr 22 '18 at 06:33
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@xkrlaix strict mode doesn't fix this unfortunately. – Aluan Haddad Apr 22 '18 at 06:35
It’s a shame that strict mode in some language thinks that null is an object. – rameezmeans Apr 22 '18 at 06:37

Javascript - Assigning null to a variable mistake

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