We have a short-hand construct for some if ... else ... constructs.
Consider the following two examples.
Example 1 | Example 2 |
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if ( x == 1 ) y = 10; else y = 20; |
y = (x == 1) ? 10 : 20; |
These examples both perform the same function. If x is 1 then y becomes 10 else y becomes 20. The example on the right evaluates the first expression '(x ==1 )' and if true evaluates the second '10'. If false the third is evaluated. Here is another example.
Example 1 | Example 2 |
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if ( x == 1 ) puts("take car"); else puts("take bike"); |
(x == 1) ? puts("take car") : puts("take bike"); or puts( (x == 1) ? "take car" : "take bike"); |
It has been said that the compiler can create more efficent code from a conditional expression possibly at the expence of readable code. Unless you are writing time critical code (and lets face it, thats unlikely) the more efficent code is not much of a reason to use this construct. I feel that it has its uses, but should not be lost into some complex statement, but, since when did C programmers worry if anyone else could read their code ;-)
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