Getting the largest number of an object property in an array using .reduce()

[Thulitha]

I was reading a medium article and came across this code. It returns the object with the most experienced pilot using .reduce() . I can’t wrap my head around the expression (oldest.years || 0) . Why not just use (oldest.years ) ?

var pilots = [
  {
    id: 10,
    name: "Poe Dameron",
    years: 14,
  },
  {
    id: 2,
    name: "Temmin 'Snap' Wexley",
    years: 30,
  },
  {
    id: 41,
    name: "Tallissan Lintra",
    years: 16,
  },
  {
    id: 99,
    name: "Ello Asty",
    years: 22,
  }
];

var mostExpPilot = pilots.reduce(function (oldest, pilot) {
  return (oldest.years || 0) > pilot.years ? oldest : pilot;
}, {});

console.log(mostExpPilot);```

[kevinSmith]

Off the top of my head, it would cover if that property were undefined, using 0 instead. I’m not sure that it’s actually needed. I also am not sure why they bother to give a starting value - if they left that undefined, reduce would just use the first element and then start looping on the second.