# Arrow functions, the basics

There's another very simple and concise syntax for creating functions, that's often better than Function Expressions.

It's called "arrow functions", because it looks like this:

```js
let func = (arg1, arg2, ..., argN) => expression;
```

This creates a function `func` that accepts arguments `arg1..argN`, then evaluates the `expression` on the right side with their use and returns its result.

In other words, it's the shorter version of:

```js
let func = function(arg1, arg2, ..., argN) {
  return expression;
};
```

Let's see a concrete example:

```js run
let sum = (a, b) => a + b;

/* This arrow function is a shorter form of:

let sum = function(a, b) {
  return a + b;
};
*/

alert( sum(1, 2) ); // 3
```

As you can see, `(a, b) => a + b` means a function that accepts two arguments named `a` and `b`. Upon the execution, it evaluates the expression `a + b` and returns the result.

- If we have only one argument, then parentheses around parameters can be omitted, making that even shorter.

    For example:

    ```js run
    *!*
    let double = n => n * 2;
    // roughly the same as: let double = function(n) { return n * 2 }
    */!*

    alert( double(3) ); // 6
    ```

- If there are no arguments, parentheses are empty, but they must be present:

    ```js run
    let sayHi = () => alert("Hello!");

    sayHi();
    ```

Arrow functions can be used in the same way as Function Expressions.

For instance, to dynamically create a function:

```js run
let age = prompt("What is your age?", 18);

let welcome = (age < 18) ?
  () => alert('Hello!') :
  () => alert("Greetings!");

welcome();
```

Arrow functions may appear unfamiliar and not very readable at first, but that quickly changes as the eyes get used to the structure.

They are very convenient for simple one-line actions, when we're just too lazy to write many words.

## Multiline arrow functions

The arrow functions that we've seen so far were very simple. They took arguments from the left of `=>`, evaluated and returned the right-side expression with them.

Sometimes we need a more complex function, with multiple expressions and statements. In that case, we can enclose them in curly braces. The major difference is that curly braces require a `return` within them to return a value (just like a regular function does).

Like this:

```js run
let sum = (a, b) => {  // the curly brace opens a multiline function
  let result = a + b;
*!*
  return result; // if we use curly braces, then we need an explicit "return"
*/!*
};

alert( sum(1, 2) ); // 3
```

```smart header="More to come"
Here we praised arrow functions for brevity. But that's not all!

Arrow functions have other interesting features.

To study them in-depth, we first need to get to know some other aspects of JavaScript, so we'll return to arrow functions later in the chapter <info:arrow-functions>.

For now, we can already use arrow functions for one-line actions and callbacks.
```

## Summary

Arrow functions are handy for simple actions, especially for one-liners. They come in two flavors:

1. Without curly braces: `(...args) => expression` -- the right side is an expression: the function evaluates it and returns the result. Parentheses can be omitted, if there's only a single argument, e.g. `n => n*2`.
2. With curly braces: `(...args) => { body }` -- brackets allow us to write multiple statements inside the function, but we need an explicit `return` to return something.
