code writing difference

Unity Engine
1

what’s the difference between writing:

if (blabla <= 0) {
//code;
}

and:

if (blabla <= 0)
//code;

?

2

No difference aside from if you don’t use { and } the if statement will apply to 1 line of code only. If you got the {} it applies to everything in the { }

It is just a shorthand way to use a if, for when your scope is only 1 line

3

With {}, you can put more than one instruction underneath.

4

As a general “best practices” guide, I’d recommend always putting braces around the contents of an if statement - even though it’s not required if there’s only a single line. That way, if you edit the code later and add some additional logic, the braces are already there and things function as intended.

2 Likes
5

The difference is the second one will eventually cause you numerous hours of tracking down a bug that you could have prevented by using braces in the first place.

3 Likes
6

Nah, I disagree. I often find it quite useful to avoid the curly braces like so:

if (transform.position.y < 50)
   return;

I often take it to the next level and go all one line:

if (transform.position.y > 50) Die();
SomeStatement();

It’s just personal preference (obviously) because the compiler accepts both ways 100%. It’s purely for readability, comprehension, and compactness.

Another way:

// very readable
if (transform.position.y > 50) return;
if (transform.position.y < -50) return;
if (rigidbody.velocity.y > 100) return;
7 
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8

The only time I have ever, ever found one line if statements useful and acceptable is when you bail out of a function because of an input parameter:

// stupid example
bool MethodName(int value)
{
// always false when value is < 0, we dont have
// to do any calculations or anything else.
if(value < 0) return false;

// otherwise other stufff...

}

However, I have found these situations very very rare.

9

I find myself doing this somewhat often, but even on a single line I’ll still use brackets.

if(noExecute) { return; }
// do some stuff

I just don’t really like the way if statements look without them I suppose.

Ternary operators are also a type of shorthand for if-else statements, but I think I read somewhere they are a tad bit slower to compute. Regardless though I do like to use the Ternary when possible

bool newBool = (integer > 0) ? true : false;
1 Like
10

Yeah I always use tenary operators instead of traditional if statements when the if statement is only used to assign a value to a variable. Doesnt the compiler just generate an if statement behind the scenes?

11

The only time I use one-liners is in the case of exception throwing. If I’m returning, I’ll use curly braces and put it on the next line. example:

public bool SomeMethod(string myParam)
{
    if (myParam == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("myParam");
    if (myParam == "...")
    {
        return false;
    }
}