Question

This is coding style based, was wondering if it’s better to put a positive outcome from an if/else decision in the if or else block. For example is:

    yes_no = object.get() #Response will be 'yes' or 'no'
    if yes_no == 'yes':
        yes response
    else:
        no response

better than:

    yes_no = object.get() #Response will be 'yes' or 'no'
    if yes_no != 'yes':
        no response
    else:
        yes response

As far as I can tell there’s no difference, as they both look for a ‘yes’ and output a yes response, but is there any sort of styling that people follow or find easier to read?

I’m using python, but since if/else is everywhere I guess other languages are relevant also.

EDIT: Replaced passes with no response, as were unnecessary.

Answer 1

I think that most depends on what the programmer wants to highlight. The IF condition should be either:

• the most probable
• the simplest
• the one which leads to less calculation
• the more readable
• …

Personally I always try to avoid this:

if condition:
    ... tons of code ...
else:
    ... one line of code ...