Accessing JavaScript Properties in Safe Mode

Suppose you are receiving JSON data from a legacy system that sends objects that may or may not have any properties, which in turn may or may not be nested very deeply into the object. I think that sooner or later everyone faced this problem:

> jsonResponse = JSON.parse('{"a": 1}')
Object {a: 1}

> jsonResponse.a
1

> jsonResponse.a.b
undefined

> jsonResponse.a.b.c
Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'c' of undefined 

      

        
        
        
      

    

Now what you usually do is access properties in a safe way, I often refer to them as:

> jsonResponse.a && jsonResponse.a.b && jsonResponse.a.b.c
undefined

> ((jsonResponse.a||{}).b||{}).c
undefined

      

        
        
        
      

    

What I'm asking is a compact, easy-to-read, fast way to write, a safe way to access deep properties when they exist and return undefined

when they don't.

What would you suggest? Is there a way to create an object that returns undefined

even for (undefined).property

(I read about get

or defineGetter

, but they don't seem flexible enough - and they are not supported in older browsers)