Conditional operator as a statement

[JonB]

@J.Hilk said in Conditional operator as a statement:

lambda function and a full switch case approach

Nah....!! KISS!! :)

And for the record I wouldn't use a switch statement to return a simple value where there are only 2 explicit case and a default. Why write a multiline essay to pick between a couple of literal string values? Of course it's only IMHO, and each to their own....

[J.Hilk]

@JonB I value readability over simplicity for simplicity’s sake..

[JonB]

@J.Hilk I agree.
And personally I find a couple of ? :s, in one line, as more readable than a multiple line switch statement and a lambda. Each to their own :)

[J.Hilk]

@JonB

auto winter_stats_filename = [](int year, Type type) -> std::string {
    const char* suffix = "mean"; // Fallback
    switch (type) {
        case Type::MIN:  suffix = "min";  break;
        case Type::MAX:  suffix = "max";  break;
        case Type::MEAN: suffix = "mean"; break;
        default:
            assert(false && "winter_stats_filename: unexpected Type value");
            break;
    }
    return "stats-" + std::to_string(year) + "-winter-" + std::string(suffix) + ".csv";
};

std::ifstream in_winter(winter_stats_filename(year, type));

I agree, sometimes I have the correct opinion and sometime the others have to wrong opinion :P

[JonB]

@J.Hilk
To pick whether you want min, max or mean in a string I have to read through 10 lines of your code (and check a lambda for sanity to add to it). Madness! :)

I can grasp

var amount = (type == MIN) ? "min" : (type == MAX) ? "max" : "mean";

at a single glance.

(Yes, I know you have added enum-range checking in your code which adds a few lines compared to mine.)

[J.Hilk]

@JonB I'm sorry but very time I see chained ternary operators, I get an Undertale rash.

[JonB]

@J.Hilk Fair enough! But what is "an Undertale rash", Google talks about it in some game but that's it?

[J.Hilk]

@JonB Undertale is a game that’s kind of infamous among programmers for having huge, messy if-else chains in its code.
So when I say “Undertale rash,” I mean I get an allergic reaction to code that looks like that

[Chris Kawa]

I really don't like lambdas used like this. Pack it in a function and you first have to go to the end of it to see what it's doing and then go back up to see how it is doing it. Have 2 or 3 of those in a function and the flow is completely ruined - you have to jump around and scroll multiple screens up and down to figure out what's going on.
I'm with @JonB on this - readability doesn't mean verbosity. Often fewer words express the intent better than paragraphs of syntax with sprinkles of what the code is actually doing.

[JonB]

@J.Hilk said in Conditional operator as a statement:

So when I say “Undertale rash,” I mean I get an allergic reaction to code that looks like that

Not knowing about the game or its code, I wondered if you intended "Undertail rash" and were thinking of a rash on your private back bits! :)