In javascript, is an empty string always false as a boolean?
Solution 1:
Yes. Javascript is a dialect of ECMAScript, and ECMAScript language specification clearly defines this behavior:
ToBoolean
The result is false if the argument is the empty String (its length is zero); otherwise the result is true
Quote taken from http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ECMA-ST/Ecma-262.pdf
Solution 2:
Yes. All false, 0, empty strings '' and "", NaN, undefined, and null are always evaluated as false; everything else is true.
And in your example, b is false after evaluation. (I think you mistakenly wrote true)