Question

When checking for nulls I use this:

String str;

if(str == null){
    //...
}

but I’ve seen this as well:

if(null == str){
    //...
}

Is there any advantage of using one over the other? Or is it just to improve readability?

Answer 1

The second version ( null == str ) is called a yoda condition.

They both result in the same behavior, but the second one has one advantage: It prevents you from accidentally changing a variable, when you forget one =. In that case the compiler returns an error at that row and you’re not left with some weird behavior of your code and the resulting debugging.