What does this code mean?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%3F:

if (age < 4) {

System.out.println("Kid");

} else if (age > 18) {

System.out.println("Adult");

} else {

System.out.println("Not yet supported");

}

~

yawmarka at 2007-7-12 19:42:26 >

> > > > System.out.println((age < 4)?"Kid":(age >

> > 18)?"Adult":"Not yet supported");

> >

>

> Agree w/ the statements above. I have to say though

> that this line isn't quickly readable and in my

> opinion would make debugging somewhat more difficult.

> It's starting to smell like C here.

Disagree with that. Once you know about the ternary operator, it's much easier to read than the expanded conditional logic, IMHO. Of course, this relies on one knowing about the ternary operator, but then, a working knowledge of the language should be a fair assumption to make in any case.

georgemca at 2007-7-12 19:42:26 >

> >

> > Disagree with that. Once you know about the

> ternary

> > operator, it's much easier to read than the

> expanded

> > conditional logic,

>

> I disagree.

You're wrong ;-)

Seriously, though, it's often better to be verbose and aim for clarity, sure, but sometimes a sprinkling of conditional logic is so trivial I'd prefer to confine it to a single line using the ternary operator. Mentally, when reading code, I'll find myself narrating a set of if statements, along the lines of "if that evaluates to true, do that. If it evaluates to false, do that." or similar, whereas ternary logic seems to just pop in and out of my train of thought in an instant: "it's either that or that" and we're done.

I have a natural aversion to "if" statements anyway. Been bitten by some nasty ones :-)

georgemca at 2007-7-12 19:42:26 >