this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2023
8 points (100.0% liked)

Java

1390 readers
1 users here now

For discussing Java, the JVM, languages that run on the JVM, and other related technologies.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Ategon
JackbyDev
thtroyer
8
Which order do you prefer for null testing ternary expressions? (self.java)
submitted 1 year ago by JackbyDev to c/java
15 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] triarius 2 points 1 year ago

I think the meat being more prominent in the second one is subjective. If I were writing a method to do something like this with ifs, I would handle the edge cases first and return early from them. The meat would be what's left after the edge cases. So this lines up with the first form.