Tonblr

C/C++/Objective-C programmers:

huge:

marco:

Tired of these bugs?

if (x = 5) { /* Oops, accidentally set x to 5 */ }

Use GCC’s -Wparentheses option, which will generate warnings whenever you do this. (In Xcode, it’s in Project Info: GCC 4.0 - Warnings: Missing Braces and Parentheses.)

If you actually intend for the assignment to be the evaluated value in a conditional, just give it an extra set of parentheses:

if ( (x = 5) ) { /* That's better */ }

The extra spaces are optional. That’s just the style I like for these constructs to make it very clear during code reading that you intended to do this.

Long ago I got in the habit of ALWAYS putting the constant on the LHS.

if (5 = x) will never compile, arguments or not!

That doesn’t help if they are both variables! e.g. (y=x)

1. do-nothing reblogged this from marco
2. tonblr reblogged this from benjaminstein and added:

   That doesn’t help if they are both variables! e.g. (y=x)

3. jhalickman reblogged this from marco and added:

   I am personally a big fan...just changing your programming style

4. brendn reblogged this from benjaminstein and added:

   Benjamin Stein has weighed...accidental assignment debate:

5. amelios reblogged this from marco and added:

   It’s especially handy when using null/nil!...Some people don’t

6. benjaminstein reblogged this from marco and added:

   ALWAYS putting the constant on the LHS....x) will never compile, arguments or not!

7. mandel reblogged this from marco and added:

   I think I had one...test at university, is a classic one :)

8. marco posted this