Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Code Project
  1. Home
  2. Other Discussions
  3. Clever Code
  4. Missing '=' in if-statement

Missing '=' in if-statement

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Clever Code
learning
26 Posts 14 Posters 4 Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • J Jorgen Sigvardsson

    Does the expression myBool = false the value true? :wtf: It's been a long time since I touched any Java, but that can't be true. That would be totally f-ed up!

    -- Mit viel Oktan und frei von Blei, eine Kraftstoff wie Benziiiiiiin!

    J Offline
    J Offline
    Jake86954
    wrote on last edited by
    #9

    Yes, it just sets the value of 'myBool' to False and after that, the complete statement is evaluated as true.

    S 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • J Jake86954

      Missing '=' in if-statement : if (myBool = false) // This if-statement will now always return 'true'. System.out.println("This line will now ALWAYS be executed !"); The correct syntax is, of course : if (myBool == false)

      J Offline
      J Offline
      Jummna
      wrote on last edited by
      #10

      As someone who uses the Digital Mars C++ compiler (formerly Symantec C++ and before that Zortech or the like) I never get this problem as the compiler always warns of an unintended assignment. If you *do* intend to do an assignement then you need to code: if ((flag=value)==TRUE) ... or similar. I.e. the compiler makes you be explicit about what you're writing.

      E 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • J Jake86954

        Yes, it just sets the value of 'myBool' to False and after that, the complete statement is evaluated as true.

        S Offline
        S Offline
        Steen Krogsgaard
        wrote on last edited by
        #11

        Oh no. At least in C/C++ the result of the assignment is the right-most value, i.e. false. Similarly, if (i=2) {... evaluates to 2.

        Cheers Steen. "Are you gonna check your makeup when you're done whining?" John Simmons, 05/31/2006

        J 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • S Steen Krogsgaard

          Oh no. At least in C/C++ the result of the assignment is the right-most value, i.e. false. Similarly, if (i=2) {... evaluates to 2.

          Cheers Steen. "Are you gonna check your makeup when you're done whining?" John Simmons, 05/31/2006

          J Offline
          J Offline
          Jake86954
          wrote on last edited by
          #12

          My point is, the conditions 'myBool = false' and 'i=2' are both 'seen' as 'true' as far as the if-statement is concerned. In other words : if (myBool = false) { // This line will always be executed. } if (i = 2) { // This line will always be executed, even if i <> 2. // And, in fact, i will now be 2. }

          S 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • J Jake86954

            My point is, the conditions 'myBool = false' and 'i=2' are both 'seen' as 'true' as far as the if-statement is concerned. In other words : if (myBool = false) { // This line will always be executed. } if (i = 2) { // This line will always be executed, even if i <> 2. // And, in fact, i will now be 2. }

            S Offline
            S Offline
            Steen Krogsgaard
            wrote on last edited by
            #13

            I understand your point, but I still think you are wrong (at least in C/C++) if (myBool = false) { // this line will never ever be executed, as the statement evaluates to false } if (i = 2) { // this line will always be executed, because the statement will evaluate to 2, which is non-zero and thus true. } if (i = 0) { // this line will not be executed, the statement evaluates to 0 => false } (disclaimer: I'm not on my devel PC right now, so this is from memory. But I'm pretty sure...)

            Cheers Steen. "Are you gonna check your makeup when you're done whining?" John Simmons, 05/31/2006

            J 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • S Steen Krogsgaard

              I understand your point, but I still think you are wrong (at least in C/C++) if (myBool = false) { // this line will never ever be executed, as the statement evaluates to false } if (i = 2) { // this line will always be executed, because the statement will evaluate to 2, which is non-zero and thus true. } if (i = 0) { // this line will not be executed, the statement evaluates to 0 => false } (disclaimer: I'm not on my devel PC right now, so this is from memory. But I'm pretty sure...)

              Cheers Steen. "Are you gonna check your makeup when you're done whining?" John Simmons, 05/31/2006

              J Offline
              J Offline
              Jake86954
              wrote on last edited by
              #14

              No, 'i = 2' doesn't evaluate to 2, because this is not a valid comparison-statement (comparison-statements use '=='). So 'i = 2' is actually an an ASSIGNMENT and the if-statement seems to evaluate assignments to 'true', at least in Java.

              S E 2 Replies Last reply
              0
              • J Jake86954

                No, 'i = 2' doesn't evaluate to 2, because this is not a valid comparison-statement (comparison-statements use '=='). So 'i = 2' is actually an an ASSIGNMENT and the if-statement seems to evaluate assignments to 'true', at least in Java.

                S Offline
                S Offline
                Steen Krogsgaard
                wrote on last edited by
                #15

                I guess it's different between C/C++ and java. I will check it in C/C++ (just for the sake of completeness :)) tonight. Untill then, we agree that i = 2 is an assignment, but I'm pretty sure that in C++ this will evaluate to the right-most element, i.e. 2. And 2 is a true value in C/C++. The evaluate-to-rightmost rule also works here: int i = j = 2; here 2 is assigned to j, and the result of this assignment (i.e. 2) is assigned to i. Anyway, thanks for the discussion!

                Cheers Steen. "Are you gonna check your makeup when you're done whining?" John Simmons, 05/31/2006

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • R Ryan Binns

                  pragma codeproject wrote:

                  wish VS had a compiler warning about "=" in ifs like the codewarrior compiler had

                  It does :confused:

                  Ryan

                  "Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"

                  P Offline
                  P Offline
                  pragma codeproject
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #16

                  tell me where and you'll save my day :) honest, I didn't find it. I usually use warning level on 3, can't go to 4 since a lot of other code (cross platform) creates noise then. R

                  R J 2 Replies Last reply
                  0
                  • L Lost User

                    pragma codeproject wrote:

                    IMHO using = in the if-clause is bad style anyway.

                    Yeh, I agree with that completely.


                    When I am king, you will be first against the wall.

                    E Offline
                    E Offline
                    Egon_Freeman
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #17

                    Well, I don't. ;-) I code PHP, and I use that pretty often, ie. if ($file_handle = fopen("filename", "r")) { // do something } else { die("File cannot be opened!"); } That part above returns handle if opened (and that resolves TRUE when it's passed into the variable), and an error otherwise (which resolves FALSE). ...I guess You're going to smack me down for using the last for() element for computation, leaving empty {} brackets, too? :P

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • J Jake86954

                      No, 'i = 2' doesn't evaluate to 2, because this is not a valid comparison-statement (comparison-statements use '=='). So 'i = 2' is actually an an ASSIGNMENT and the if-statement seems to evaluate assignments to 'true', at least in Java.

                      E Offline
                      E Offline
                      Egon_Freeman
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #18

                      "So 'i = 2' is actually an an ASSIGNMENT and the if-statement seems to evaluate assignments to 'true', at least in Java." in C also, in C++ also, in PHP also etc. The only language I know of where it DOESN'T evaluate ASSIGNMENTS to TRUE is PASCAL (what with assignment operator being := and all...)

                      R 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • J Jummna

                        As someone who uses the Digital Mars C++ compiler (formerly Symantec C++ and before that Zortech or the like) I never get this problem as the compiler always warns of an unintended assignment. If you *do* intend to do an assignement then you need to code: if ((flag=value)==TRUE) ... or similar. I.e. the compiler makes you be explicit about what you're writing.

                        E Offline
                        E Offline
                        Egon_Freeman
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #19

                        "if ((flag=value)==TRUE) ... " Now THIS could be adopted as a 'good practice' over that crappy "value == variable" thing! The latter won't work, for example, when You by mistake do something like if (variable_a = variable_b) { ... and since the names can be pretty long (no limits, really), it'd be tough to spot. With the former approach, one'd see the above as NOT being right, not being: if ((variable_a = variable_b) == TRUE) { ... Could be useful. Thanks :) On a side note, I like to do "if (variable_a === variable_b)", so that I can ommit one "=" and still get away with it (I like to be explicit about what I expect to get exactly, especialy with OOP which in itself obfuscates the code in its own way...)

                        J 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • E Egon_Freeman

                          "So 'i = 2' is actually an an ASSIGNMENT and the if-statement seems to evaluate assignments to 'true', at least in Java." in C also, in C++ also, in PHP also etc. The only language I know of where it DOESN'T evaluate ASSIGNMENTS to TRUE is PASCAL (what with assignment operator being := and all...)

                          R Offline
                          R Offline
                          Ray Kelm
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #20

                          beg to differ, but C and C++ do not evaluate assignments to true. They evaluate to the rvalue. And yes, I just tried it using GCC. #include int x; int main() { if (x=0) { printf("assignments evaluate to true!\n"); } return 0; }

                          E 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • R Ray Kelm

                            beg to differ, but C and C++ do not evaluate assignments to true. They evaluate to the rvalue. And yes, I just tried it using GCC. #include int x; int main() { if (x=0) { printf("assignments evaluate to true!\n"); } return 0; }

                            E Offline
                            E Offline
                            Egon_Freeman
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #21

                            I stand corrected. :-)

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • T tuckers work

                              A way to avaoid this pitfall is use if (false == bool)...the compiler will flag up an error if you use "=" instead of "==".

                              S Offline
                              S Offline
                              Stephan Poirier
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #22

                              Thanks!!! Never thought about that one!! It make sense and prevent us to do stupid logical error in a if statement. Now, I just have to remember to code like this.

                              Progamming looks like taking drugs... I think I did an overdose. ;-P

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • P pragma codeproject

                                tell me where and you'll save my day :) honest, I didn't find it. I usually use warning level on 3, can't go to 4 since a lot of other code (cross platform) creates noise then. R

                                R Offline
                                R Offline
                                Ryan Binns
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #23

                                Warning level 4...

                                Ryan

                                "Punctuality is only a virtue for those who aren't smart enough to think of good excuses for being late" John Nichol "Point Of Impact"

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • E Egon_Freeman

                                  "if ((flag=value)==TRUE) ... " Now THIS could be adopted as a 'good practice' over that crappy "value == variable" thing! The latter won't work, for example, when You by mistake do something like if (variable_a = variable_b) { ... and since the names can be pretty long (no limits, really), it'd be tough to spot. With the former approach, one'd see the above as NOT being right, not being: if ((variable_a = variable_b) == TRUE) { ... Could be useful. Thanks :) On a side note, I like to do "if (variable_a === variable_b)", so that I can ommit one "=" and still get away with it (I like to be explicit about what I expect to get exactly, especialy with OOP which in itself obfuscates the code in its own way...)

                                  J Offline
                                  J Offline
                                  Jummna
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #24

                                  It's one of the nicer things about the DM compiler (though it's looking very long in the tooth nowadays). I just wish all the compiler vendors (MS VC++, Intel, et al) would all look at each other and port the best bits. I still cannot believe that MS C++ has no support for the ubquitous (but non-standard) 0b010101 binary format (or %b in it's printf() function). Interestingly, I once had cause to use some Microsoft supplied headers (MFC or Windows Platform API, can't remember which) but the DM compiler found several such mistakes in the headers. I duly reported them to MS and felt quite smug ;-) Paul

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • P pragma codeproject

                                    tell me where and you'll save my day :) honest, I didn't find it. I usually use warning level on 3, can't go to 4 since a lot of other code (cross platform) creates noise then. R

                                    J Offline
                                    J Offline
                                    jbarton
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #25

                                    you can change the level for specific warnings using a pragma: #pragma warning( 3 : 4706 ) This will change the level of warning 4706 to 3 so that it will report: warning C4706: assignment within conditional expression when the warning level is 3.

                                    P 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • J jbarton

                                      you can change the level for specific warnings using a pragma: #pragma warning( 3 : 4706 ) This will change the level of warning 4706 to 3 so that it will report: warning C4706: assignment within conditional expression when the warning level is 3.

                                      P Offline
                                      P Offline
                                      pragma codeproject
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #26

                                      cool, thanks!

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      Reply
                                      • Reply as topic
                                      Log in to reply
                                      • Oldest to Newest
                                      • Newest to Oldest
                                      • Most Votes


                                      • Login

                                      • Don't have an account? Register

                                      • Login or register to search.
                                      • First post
                                        Last post
                                      0
                                      • Categories
                                      • Recent
                                      • Tags
                                      • Popular
                                      • World
                                      • Users
                                      • Groups