Good VS Bad - Beyond The JavaScript Console

In your development career, you mostly know about the console.log() but the console API can do many things that you may not know about. Here, in this article, we are going to learn all about console API with Good VS Bad practices.

Let’s start with consoling the console object.

Write console.log(console) in your browser’s console editor and find the list of APIs provided by the console object. Each API purpose is unique and useful in certain cases.

Below are my explanations of the most useful APIs in console object.

Assume you have an Object on the list and you show that on the JavaScript console.

The Bad Practice

 

Assertion – Sometimes we want to log only when the condition is false.

console.assert() – If condition is false then only give an error. It eliminates the need for if condition and keeps your code clean.

The Bad Practice

The Good Practice

 

{ } – Always use Braces to log the object with the name.

The Bad Practice

The Good Practice

Group: If you have multiple logs, then try log group for collapsible sections.

The Bad Practice

The Good Practice

Always, console object with its properties.

The Bad Practice

The Good Practice

How to set a timer with the console?

We can start a timer with the console by calling time, then call timeLog to measure the elapsed time. It provides a simple solution for measuring performance.

Now, let's talk about remaining APIs in console log.

console.clear()

The console.clear() method clears the console

console.count()

Writes to the console the number of times that particular console.count() is called.

console.info()

This method writes a message to the console.

console.warn()

The console.warn() method writes a warning to the console.

console.error()

The console.error() method writes an error message to the console.

Console.trace()

The console.trace() method displays a trace that shows how the code ended up at a certain point.

How to apply CSS in console.log()?

We can also apply the style in the console.log(). Use the special %c character to add some style.

Thank you for reading this article.

Happy Coding :)