Define several variables at once in GEE

Question

I am looking for a quick way of defining several variables at once in GEE. My code currently is written like this:

var a = 0;
var b = 0;
var c = 0;
var d = 0;

which takes up space uselessly and is quite repetitive. I found that in javascript it is possible to write it as:

var [a,b,c,d] = [0,1,2,3]

but trying that in GEE only produces an error:

(SyntaxError: Unexpected token (1:5)).

Answer 1

Earth Engine does not currently support JavaScript syntax newer than “ES5”.

To define and initialize multiple variables, you can write

var a = 0, b = 0, c = 0, d = 0;

or

var a, b, c, d;
a = b = c = d = 0;

However, note that wanting to work with variables “in bulk” is often a sign that you should be using a data structure instead — a single variable holding a list/array/dictionary instead of several variables holding similar items — or a function that you can call several times. This isn't always a problem, but it's something to pause to consider any time you find yourself writing repetitive code.