Do you prefer “if (var)” or “if (var != 0)”? [closed]

Answer 1

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the other option, which the coding standards at a past employer of mine advocated:

if( 0 != x );

Where the constant was always listed first (especially more important with comparisons as they occasionally get typo'd to assignments - the source of many a bug)

It's the style I've used ever since in my C / Perl / C++ / VB.Net since (obviously the point becomes moot in C# whihc doesn't actually allow the if (x) scenario (unless x is actually a boolean, of course).

Answer 2

VBScript? Well this bit of code declares a Variant, so bFlag is zero, which is effectively a False.

Dim bFlag
If bFlag Then

I don't like that. So even in VB, with the option of more specific declarations, I find myself being explicit no matter what the type.

Dim bFlag As Boolean
If bFlag = False Then

The other issue related to variable naming rules. If you're using an Hungarian-influenced regime, then you can tell visually that a given variable is boolean, so being specific about whether it's true or false is less of an issue. If, however, you're using some other variable naming technque, or worse, naming in an ad hoc way, then being specific about what's being tested for is appropriate.