title: What is the meaning of these statements || {} in this javascript code
body: <p>I'm just getting going in javascript and am reading up on the module pattern. </p>
  
  <p>I have been looking at this page: <a href="http://www.adequatelygood.com/JavaScript-Module-Pattern-In-Depth.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.adequatelygood.com/JavaScript-Module-Pattern-In-Depth.html</a> and cannot work out what the || {} statements mean. </p>
  
  <p>There are quite a few places where this code is written: (UTIL || {}));</p>
  
  <p>Can anyone explain what these statements mean and what they are doing?</p>
  
  <p>I assume that || means OR - but am not too certain in this context.</p>
  
  <p>Here is the code from the conclusion of the article. The second and the penultimate lines are examples of the code that has me puzzled.</p>
  
  <pre><code>var UTIL = (function (parent, $) {
  var my = parent.ajax = parent.ajax || {};
  
  my.get = function (url, params, callback) {
      // ok, so I'm cheating a bit :)
      return $.getJSON(url, params, callback);
  };
  
  // etc...
  
  return parent;
  }(UTIL || {}, jQuery));
  </code></pre>