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- Single statement if block - braces or no? 17 answers
Recently I've been messing around with this. Note that I'm not using LINQ because while this could be easily be done that way, I could do this in any language.
Allow me to exemplify:
foreach ( var i in items )
{
if ( condition )
{
...
}
}
This could be read as: "for each item that meets condition, do ..."
Let's just say that ... is several lines long. In order for me to know that that this code is equivalent to the statement above, I have to ensure that there is nothing after said if. I'd rather write it this way:
foreach ( var i in items )
if ( condition )
{
...
}
That said, since this particular case is rather brief, I could also write it this way:
foreach ( var i in items ) if ( condition )
{
...
}
And let's just say ... is a single, short statement. This could all fit into a single line without looking jarring at all.
var x = new List<Foo>()
foreach ( var i in items ) if ( condition ) x.Add(i);
Which, in LINQ, would be:
x = items.Where( i => condition );
Remarkably similar.
Another interesting example, would be when I'm nesting foreach loops to look for something.
foreach ( var i in foos ) foreach ( var j in i.bars )
{
//Do Stuff With Bars
...
}
Contextually, the first foreach is tied to the second. What I'm actually interested in are the bars, not the foos. I think writing it this way reinforces that idea.
This is, essentially, the same thing we do when we chain if blocks, which should technically look like this:
if ( a )
{
...
}
else
{
if ( b )
{
...
}
}
Whereas, everyone I know, myself included, writes:
if ( a )
{
...
}
else if ( b )
{
...
}
I am not trying to take shortcuts or write less lines, but simply group things together because it makes sense for them to be together on the same line.
