Semicolon at end of 'if' statement

Question

Today, after half an hour of searching for a bug, I discovered that it is possible to put a semicolon after an if statement instead of code, like this:

if(a          


        

Answer 1

Java allows an empty block any place a statement block is allowed. I am sure making this a general rule for all blocks simplifies the compiler.

I agree that this is primarily the cause of bugs that are spectacularly hard to find. I always use braces around blocks, even when there is a single statement, but Java allows you to make a block with braces at any point, so using braces can not save you from this fate. For example, I once wasted 4 hours trying find something like this:

while (condition);
{
    statement;
    statement;
}

The semicolon at the end of the first line was a typo, accidentally making the statement block for the while loop empty. Because the syntax is valid the program compiled and ran fine, just not the way I wanted it to. It was really hard to find.

I can think of one situation where it is very nice that you are allowed to have empty blocks, and this is something like this:

if (condition1) {
    do_action_1();
}
else if (condition2) {
    //nothing really to do in this case
}
else if (condition3) {
    do_action2();
}
else {
    do_action3();
}

In the above example, you want to be able to separate out various conditions. Remember, those conditions might be overlapping, so it is not always possible to rearrange the order. If one of the conditions really does not need anything done, then it is nice that Java allows you to have an empty block. Otherwise, the language would need some form of a "noop" method to use when you really do not want anything done.

I personally would prefer the explicit "noop" statement -- but that is not how Java is defined.