Scott Hill wrote:
I agree with this. The expression $x = $y==1; is valid but it's hard
to read. In order for our code to have any kind of legacy, it might
be best to type a few more characters and use
$x = false;
if ($y == 1)
$x = true;
or whatever else we can type to help others after us figure out what
we meant to do (or at least get close);
I emphatically agree that code ought to be written with readers in mind.
In fact, I think that human readers are more important than the computer
interpreter/compiler. However, I disagree that your example is more
readable. For example, I consider this:
$x = ( $y == 1 );
To be more readable than this:
$x = false;
if ( $y == 1 )
$x = true;
Simply because there is less to read!
By the same argument, I prefer boolean function return values like this:
return ( $y == 1 );
Over this:
if( $y == 1 )
return true;
else
return false;
Because it is less to read and less error prone.
I think my version conveys more meaning in fewer characters. So you may
ask: what about programmers who aren't familiar with the syntax? Well, I
opine that they ought to learn it because it's very expressive. If you
don't know that syntax, it might mean you have a misunderstanding of how
your language deals with boolean expressions (not to mention its
assignment operator), which is quite fundamental to any language.
Just my 2 cents.
--Dave
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