Different ways of writing the “if” statement [closed]

Answer 1

It's strange that nobody mentioned this:

if ( x == 1) {
   ...
}
else {
   ...
}

To me, this is the only correct way, of course :-)

Answer 2

I'd always use #2. #4 is a truly awful layout and would only be done by someone who believes that a method must be one screen size in length and will do anything to cram it in, rather than refactor the code!!!

Answer 3

Version #2 for me - easiest to see, easiest to read, easy to see where the if starts and ends, same for else, you dont have to worry about putting in brackets if you want to add more than one statement.

Answer 4

Personally I prefer version 2. But since it's only formating it doesn't matter. Use which is best readable for you and your team members!

Answer 5

None of the above.

If my execution block only has one line (even if it's a huge for statement) then I don't use braces, but I do indent it, similar to #3

if (num > 3)
     print "num is greater than 3";
else
     print "num is not greater than 3";

An example with multiple statements that do not need curly braces:

if (num > 3)
    for (int i = 0; i < 100)
        print i + "\n";
else
    print "booya!";

That said, Jon Skeet's response in this question is the best

Answer 6

Personally, there are two methods that I find being good-practice:

For if-blocks, there's only this way:

if(...)
{
    // ...
}
else if (...)
{
    // ...
}
else
{
    // ...
}

This is the safest and most comprehensible way to write if-else-blocks.

For one liners (true one liners that are comprehensible on one line), you can use the ternary operator.

var objectInstance = condition ? foo : bar;

// Or the binary operator when dealing with null values
var objectInstance = condition ?? foo;

You shouldn't call methods that do something that do not help the current assignation.

I wouldn't use any other way than those stated above.