Typically in a case where jQuery fails to find matching elements using its selector the default value is never an exception but rather a lack of action. 

My understanding is this is done by design to ensure that the lack of an element does not result in an error condition. However I have found that `jQuery.val()` does not exhibit this same behaviour. If a selected element does not exist `jQuery.val()` will return `undefined` rather than an empty string (which in keeping with the remainder of the framework I would have expected).

So why is `jQuery.val()` an exception to the rest of the framework and what would be the best way to change this behaviour?