Question

Okay, we know that the following two lines are equivalent –

1. (0 == i)
2. (i == 0)

Also, the first method was encouraged in the past because that would have allowed the compiler to give an error message if you accidentally used ‘=’ instead of ‘==’.

My question is – in today’s generation of pretty slick IDE’s and intelligent compilers, do you still recommend the first method?

In particular, this question popped into my mind when I saw the following code –

if(DialogResult.OK == MessageBox.Show('Message')) ...  

In my opinion, I would never recommend the above. Any second opinions?

Answer 1

I prefer the second one, (i == 0), because it feel much more natural when reading it. You ask people, ‘Are you 21 or older?’, not, ‘Is 21 less than or equal to your age?’