Which order do you prefer for null testing ternary expressions? (programming.dev)

submitted 1 year ago by JackbyDev@programming.dev to c/java@programming.dev

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Which do you prefer of these two? The goal is the same. If bar is null then make foo null and avoid the exception. In other languages there is the ?. operator to help with this.

foo = bar == null ? null : bar.baz();
foo = bar != null ? bar.baz() : null;

I ask because I feel like the "English" of the first example is easier to read and has less negations so it is more straightforward, but the second one has the meat of the expression (bar.baz()) more prominently.

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[-] o11c@programming.dev -2 points 1 year ago

The second, or early return/continue/break.

But don't forget the third option:

foo = null
if (bar != null)
    foo = bar.baz();

This is much more readable if nontrivial; the only downside is that this inhibits the practice of ubiquitous final.

Actually, doesn't Java allow lazy final if you don't initialize (that would require explicit else)? I speak too many languages ...

[-] pohart@lemmyrs.org 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is much less readable if non-trivial. It's easy enough here, but now I need to search through the code to see where else foo was set.

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, Java allows lazy final like you say. I also prefer full blown if when it is non trivial or longer than a full line. (Wish we had if-expressions!)

this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2023

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