why null is not converted to a boolean value in a conditional statement?

Question

Having the following test case: (find fiddle here)

var a = new Date();
var b = null;
var c = {test: "test"};

if(a)
    console.log(a); //--- prints the current date

if(b)
    console.log('null'); //--- never reached

if(c)
    console.log('test'); //--- prints 'test'

console.log(a && b); //--- prints null

Knowing that

console.log(typeof null); //--- prints "object"
console.log(typeof c); //--- prints "object"

I expect the result of

console.log(a && b); 

to be false and not null as it shown in the example.

Any hint?

Answer 1

From the MDN:

expr1 && expr2 : Returns expr1 if it can be converted to false; otherwise, returns expr2

new Date can't be converted to false (it's not falsy), so b is returned.