Why does (wasThatTrue) work but not (true)?

JavaScript
1

Can someone explain to me why this is wrong:

 // Example
function ourTrueOrFalse(isItTrue) {
  if (isItTrue) { 
    return "Yes, it's true";
  }
  return "No, it's false";
}

// Setup
function trueOrFalse(wasThatTrue) {

  // Only change code below this line.
  
  if (true) {
      return "Yes, that was true";
  }
  
  return "No, that was false";
  }
  // Only change code above this line.



// Change this value to test
trueOrFalse(false);

And this is right:

// Example
function ourTrueOrFalse(isItTrue) {
  if (isItTrue) { 
    return "Yes, it's true";
  }
  return "No, it's false";
}

// Setup
function trueOrFalse(wasThatTrue) {

  // Only change code below this line.
  
  if (wasThatTrue) {
      return "Yes, that was true";
  }
  
  return "No, that was false";
  }
  // Only change code above this line.



// Change this value to test
trueOrFalse(false);

I’m not sure if I’m thinking correctly. I might just be tired or not understanding the flow of execution, but from what I see with the correct code, the function trueOrFalse(wasThatTrue) sets itself up to only accept the answer of isItTrue, or something. So how does trueOrFalse(false) change the output at all?

I think I’m missing something and am not thinking straight on top of that? It’s not like it’s hard to understand, either. I use if statements all the time in this game I play, but it seems so confusing here.

Though when I use if statements, it usually is in the form of if(item == null) or if(item != null).

2

in the one that is wrong, what is the condition in the trueOrFalse function?

3

In the second example:

// Setup
function trueOrFalse(wasThatTrue) {

  // Only change code below this line.
  
  if (true) {
      return "Yes, that was true";
  }
  
  return "No, that was false";
  }

It will always evaluate to “Yes, that was true” because you are checking if(true) instead of if(wasThatTrue).

On a side note, the parameters could have better names, maybe “bool” or “expression” for better readability.