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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-23T05:19:52+00:00

For those who misread the question: let’s pretend we’re on Wikipedia . I’m not

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For those who misread the question: let’s pretend we’re on Wikipedia.
I’m not looking for “the right way”, I’m looking for verifiable references to support either side.

(Please read to the end)

The Context

In a comment on a different thread, a person said his friends would beg to differ with my opinion on whether 

if (!condition)

or

if (condition == false)

is preferred in C#.

As much as I was sure I know how to do the Right Thing™, I was unable to find any evidence my opinion is official in neither C# coding nor design guidelines.

The Question

Is there anything substantial to show in support of either side, apart from the common sense?

(a paragraph in a widely admired book or any document hosted at microsoft.com that uses or prescribes either style over another will answer the question)

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    if (!condition) and if (condition) are preferred over if (condition == false) and if (condition == true) because the former is just as readable and less verbose.

    Bottom section of page 13 of C# Coding Standards for .NET created by Lance Hunt says:

    Avoid evaluating Boolean conditions against true or false.

    // Bad! 
if (isValid == true) 
{ ... } 
// Good! 
if (isValid) 
{ ... }

    However it is not by any means official and it doesn’t come from Microsoft.

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