Variables & Functions

Arrow Functions

A basic arrow function isn’t all that different from a traditional function. The word function gets dropped, and a fat arrow (=>) is added between the parentheses and brackets (() and {}, respectively).

// A traditional function
function add (num1, num2) {
	return num1 + num2;
}

// The arrow function version
let add = (num1, num2) => {
	return num1 + num2;
};

Note: Named arrow functions have to be written as a function expression. There’s no way to write one as a function declaration.

If your function is only returning a value, as is the case with our add() function, you can simplify the function even further by dropping the curly brackets ({}) and return operator.

// returns the value of `num1 + num2`
let add = (num1, num2) => num1 + num2;

This only works if the only thing you’re doing is returning a value. If you need to do more stuff with your function, you have to include curly brackets.