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  4. Using Else with blank If

Using Else with blank If

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linuxhelp
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  • M Marcus J Smith

    I think it is just easier to read when you say say what you want it to equal.

    If boolean = True

    instead of just saying

    If boolean

    I just couldnt think of a good example but what I was getting at is really saying something like

    If strType = "GOOD" OrElse strType = "COOL" Then
    'Good Record
    Else
    blnError = True
    End If

    instead of saying

    If strType <> "GOOD" AndAlso strType <> "COOL" Then
    blnError = True
    End If


    CleaKO

    "I think you'll be okay here, they have a thin candy shell. 'Surprised you didn't know that." - Tommy Boy
    "Fill it up again! Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it's so good!" - Frank the Tank (Old School)

    P Offline
    P Offline
    PIEBALDconsult
    wrote on last edited by
    #11

    CleaKO wrote:

    If boolean = True

    But then you may have trouble when the code is ported to C, so you really need: If True = boolean

    --| "Every tool is a hammer." |--

    J S 2 Replies Last reply
    0
    • J Josh Smith

      Roger Bamforth wrote:

      what on earth is wrong with bool b = condition;

      In general I completely agree with you. The only time I might use the "bad" way is for debugging purposes. If I only want a breakpoint to hit when 'condition' is false, then I will create an explicit if/else branch. Of course, after debugging I revert the code back to bool b = condition; (I'm usually too lazy to setup debugger conditions!)

      :josh: My WPF Blog[^]

      H Offline
      H Offline
      Hal Angseesing
      wrote on last edited by
      #12

      Yep, done this myself. And debugger conditional breakpoints are actually quite a lot slower than IP traps.

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • P PIEBALDconsult

        CleaKO wrote:

        If boolean = True

        But then you may have trouble when the code is ported to C, so you really need: If True = boolean

        --| "Every tool is a hammer." |--

        J Offline
        J Offline
        John R Shaw
        wrote on last edited by
        #13

        It is a good idea to place the constant value to the left of the equality symbol in any language that supports them, to catch syntax errors. It just feels so unnatural to type it that way. ;)

        INTP "Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence."Edsger Dijkstra

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • J jhwurmbach

          CleaKO wrote:

          think it is just easier to read when you say say what you want it to equal. If boolean = True instead of just saying If boolean

          Funny. For me its just the opposite: The superfluous = True imposes the nagging feel in me, I have missed something while reading the code. But then, the whole VB code gives me a screaming fit anyway. :rolleyes:


          Failure is not an option - it's built right in.

          J Offline
          J Offline
          John R Shaw
          wrote on last edited by
          #14

          jhwurmbach wrote:

          But then, the whole VB code gives me a screaming fit anyway.

          I know the feeling. ;)

          INTP "Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence."Edsger Dijkstra

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • P PIEBALDconsult

            CleaKO wrote:

            If boolean = True

            But then you may have trouble when the code is ported to C, so you really need: If True = boolean

            --| "Every tool is a hammer." |--

            S Offline
            S Offline
            Shog9 0
            wrote on last edited by
            #15

            You might still have trouble in C, if you run up against code that uses other non-zero values for "true"...

            ----

            It appears that everybody is under the impression that I approve of the documentation. You probably also blame Ken Burns for supporting slavery.

            --Raymond Chen on MSDN

            1 Reply Last reply
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            • M Marcus J Smith

              I think it is just easier to read when you say say what you want it to equal.

              If boolean = True

              instead of just saying

              If boolean

              I just couldnt think of a good example but what I was getting at is really saying something like

              If strType = "GOOD" OrElse strType = "COOL" Then
              'Good Record
              Else
              blnError = True
              End If

              instead of saying

              If strType <> "GOOD" AndAlso strType <> "COOL" Then
              blnError = True
              End If


              CleaKO

              "I think you'll be okay here, they have a thin candy shell. 'Surprised you didn't know that." - Tommy Boy
              "Fill it up again! Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it's so good!" - Frank the Tank (Old School)

              A Offline
              A Offline
              AncientCodeslinger
              wrote on last edited by
              #16

              If that's how you use booleans, you might as well just use an integer set to 1 or 0 or a string set to "Y" or "N" (or "True" or "False"). How about: somethingIsWrong = (type <> "GOOD" AndAlso type <> "Cool") With a variable name that clearly expresses the condition represented by the boolean, the comparison to True or False becomes clearly redundant.

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • R Roger Bamforth

                Absolutely. Along the same lines, my pet peeve is

                bool b;

                if (condition)
                {
                b = true;
                }
                else
                {
                b = false;
                }

                what on earth is wrong with

                bool b = condition;

                Regards - Roger

                G Offline
                G Offline
                Graham Bradshaw
                wrote on last edited by
                #17

                Well, if the condition is to test the equality of two variables,

                bool b;

                if (x = y)
                {
                b = true;
                }
                else
                {
                b = false;
                }

                will give you a compiler warning, and

                bool b = (x = y);

                will not. (Note the assignment vs equality test bug)

                R D 2 Replies Last reply
                0
                • R Roger Bamforth

                  Absolutely. Along the same lines, my pet peeve is

                  bool b;

                  if (condition)
                  {
                  b = true;
                  }
                  else
                  {
                  b = false;
                  }

                  what on earth is wrong with

                  bool b = condition;

                  Regards - Roger

                  K Offline
                  K Offline
                  Kevin McFarlane
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #18

                  It's also quite common. I often find myself starting with the first one, then after testing, stepping through, etc., I refactor to the second.

                  Kevin

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • M Marcus J Smith

                    I think it is just easier to read when you say say what you want it to equal.

                    If boolean = True

                    instead of just saying

                    If boolean

                    I just couldnt think of a good example but what I was getting at is really saying something like

                    If strType = "GOOD" OrElse strType = "COOL" Then
                    'Good Record
                    Else
                    blnError = True
                    End If

                    instead of saying

                    If strType <> "GOOD" AndAlso strType <> "COOL" Then
                    blnError = True
                    End If


                    CleaKO

                    "I think you'll be okay here, they have a thin candy shell. 'Surprised you didn't know that." - Tommy Boy
                    "Fill it up again! Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it's so good!" - Frank the Tank (Old School)

                    K Offline
                    K Offline
                    Kevin McFarlane
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #19

                    The reason for the first is that some people have a fixation about negative conditionals, such that they will try and avoid them at all costs - such as the cost you describe!

                    Kevin

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • J jhwurmbach

                      CleaKO wrote:

                      think it is just easier to read when you say say what you want it to equal. If boolean = True instead of just saying If boolean

                      Funny. For me its just the opposite: The superfluous = True imposes the nagging feel in me, I have missed something while reading the code. But then, the whole VB code gives me a screaming fit anyway. :rolleyes:


                      Failure is not an option - it's built right in.

                      K Offline
                      K Offline
                      Kevin McFarlane
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #20

                      jhwurmbach wrote:

                      But then, the whole VB code gives me a screaming fit anyway.

                      But you see such style in the C-family languages too, though it's probably less common.

                      Kevin

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • G Graham Bradshaw

                        Well, if the condition is to test the equality of two variables,

                        bool b;

                        if (x = y)
                        {
                        b = true;
                        }
                        else
                        {
                        b = false;
                        }

                        will give you a compiler warning, and

                        bool b = (x = y);

                        will not. (Note the assignment vs equality test bug)

                        R Offline
                        R Offline
                        Roger Bamforth
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #21

                        That's a good point and is actually something that had never occurred to me. However, whether or not you get a warning depends upon the types of x, y and b is not as simple as it seems. It is probably also language and compiler dependant. e.g in Visual C++

                        bool x = true;
                        bool y = true;
                        bool b = (x = y);
                        

                        gives no warning, as you say, but

                        int x = true;
                        int y = true;
                        bool b = (x = y);
                        

                        does generate a warning (forcing an int to be a bool) and

                        int x = true;
                        int y = true;
                        BOOL b = (x = y);
                        

                        doesn't.

                        Regards - Roger

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • M Marcus J Smith

                          This is so minor it probably is a non issue but it bugs me.

                          If blnFlag = False Then
                          'Good
                          Else
                          Continue
                          End If

                          This happens alot but I believe it is better to say

                          If blnFlag = True Then
                          Continue
                          End If


                          CleaKO

                          "I think you'll be okay here, they have a thin candy shell. 'Surprised you didn't know that." - Tommy Boy
                          "Fill it up again! Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it's so good!" - Frank the Tank (Old School)

                          E Offline
                          E Offline
                          Ennis Ray Lynch Jr
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #22

                          If there is a complicated method and I want to indicate that I did indeed accomodate both possibilities I will, ocassionaly, leave a blank if. However, I almost never check a boolean variable against a boolean and instead prefer : if(isFlagSet){ //Some commented out code or not about //Why not used } else if(!isFlagSet){ //Some Actual code ... } else{ //File Not Found } Just kidding with the File not found!


                          File Not Found

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • M Marcus J Smith

                            I think it is just easier to read when you say say what you want it to equal.

                            If boolean = True

                            instead of just saying

                            If boolean

                            I just couldnt think of a good example but what I was getting at is really saying something like

                            If strType = "GOOD" OrElse strType = "COOL" Then
                            'Good Record
                            Else
                            blnError = True
                            End If

                            instead of saying

                            If strType <> "GOOD" AndAlso strType <> "COOL" Then
                            blnError = True
                            End If


                            CleaKO

                            "I think you'll be okay here, they have a thin candy shell. 'Surprised you didn't know that." - Tommy Boy
                            "Fill it up again! Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it's so good!" - Frank the Tank (Old School)

                            P Offline
                            P Offline
                            peterchen
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #23

                            boolean = True but that's a boolean expression again, which could be true.. or false. So to make absoultely clear you want b = true to be true (not false), you write If (boolean = True) = True lather, rinse, repeat :rolleyes:


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                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • G Graham Bradshaw

                              Well, if the condition is to test the equality of two variables,

                              bool b;

                              if (x = y)
                              {
                              b = true;
                              }
                              else
                              {
                              b = false;
                              }

                              will give you a compiler warning, and

                              bool b = (x = y);

                              will not. (Note the assignment vs equality test bug)

                              D Offline
                              D Offline
                              D111
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #24

                              Shouldn't it be: bool b = (x == y); ---------- bool b = (x = y); would set x to y and then b to x

                              --- The sum of the intelligence of the world is constant. The total number of people is always increasing.

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