Is it a bad practice to use an if-statement without curly braces

Question

I ve seen code like this   if statement      do this  else     do this    However  I think this is more readable   if statement       do this   else      do this      Since both methods work  is this simply a matter of preference which to use or would one way be recommended over the other

User · Answer

The  rule  I follow is this   If the  if  statement is testing in order to do something  I E  call functions  configure variables etc    use braces   if  test        doSomething        This is because I feel you need to make it clear what functions are being called and where the flow of the program is going  under what conditions  Having the programmer understand exactly what functions are called and what variables are set in this condition is important to helping them understand exactly what your program is doing   If the  if  statement is testing in order to stop doing something  I E  flow control within a loop or function   use a single line   if  test  continue  if  test  break  if  test  return    In this case  what s important to the programmer is discovering quickly what the exceptional cases are where you don t want the code to run  and that is all coverred in  test  not in the execution block

User · Answer

Having the braces right from the first moment should help to prevent you from ever having to debug this    if  statement       do this  else      do this       do that

User · Answer

My personal preference is using a mixture of whitespace and brackets like this   if  statement             let s do this    else           well that sucks      I think this looks clean and makes my code very easy to read and most importantly - debug

User · Answer

It is a matter of preference  I personally use both styles  if I am reasonably sure that I won t need to add anymore statements  I use the first style  but if that is possible  I use the second  Since you cannot add anymore statements to the first style  I have heard some people recommend against using it  However  the second method does incur an additional line of code and if you  or your project  uses this kind of coding style  the first method is very much preferred for simple if statements   if statement        do this    else       do this      However  I think the best solution to this problem is in Python  With the whitespace-based block structure  you don t have two different methods of creating an if statement  you only have one   if statement      do this else      do this   While that does have the  issue  that you can t use the braces at all  you do gain the benefit that it is no more lines that the first style and it has the power to add more statements

User · Answer

The problem with the first version is that if you go back and add a second statement to the if or else clauses without remembering to add the curly braces  your code will break in unexpected and amusing ways   Maintainability-wise  it s always smarter to use the second form   EDIT  Ned points this out in the comments  but it s worth linking to here  too  I think  This is not just some ivory-tower hypothetical bullshit  https   www imperialviolet org 2014 02 22 applebug html

User · Answer

My general pattern is that if it fits on one line  I ll do   if true  do something      If there s an else clause  or if the code I want to execute on true is of significant length  braces all the way   if true        do something and pass arguments to it argument1  argument2  argument3      if false        do something      else       do something else        Ultimately  it comes down to a subjective issue of style and readability  The general programming world  however  pretty much splits into two parties  for languages that use braces   either use them all the time without exception  or use them all the time with exception  I m part of the latter group

User · Answer

I am using the code formatter of the IDE I use  That might differ  but it can be setup in the Preferences Options   I like this one   if  statement           comment to denote in words the case     do this         keep this block simple  if more than 10-15 lines needed  I add a function for it   else       do this

User · Answer

I prefer using braces  Adding braces makes it easier to read and modify     Here are some links for the use of braces      Prefer Multiline if   Omitting Braces  Not Just A Matter Of Style   Stack Overflow

User · Answer

From my experience the only  very  slight advantage of the first form is code readability  the second form adds  noise    But with modern IDEs and code autogeneration  or autocompletion  I strongly recommend using the second form  you won t spend extra time typing curly braces and you ll avoid some of the most frequent bugs   There are enough energy consuming bugs  people just shoudn t open doors for big wastes of time   One of the most important rule to remember when writing code is consistency  Every line of code should be written the same way  no matter who wrote it  Being rigorous prevents bugs from   happening      This is the same with naming clearly  amp  explicitly your variables  methods  files or with correctly indenting them     When my students accept this fact  they stop fighting against their own sourcecode and they start to see coding as a really interesting  stimulating and creative activity  They challenge their minds  not their nerves

User · Answer

I agree with most answers in the fact that it is better to be explicit in your code and use braces  Personally I would adopt a set of coding standards and ensure that everyone on the team knows them and conforms  Where I work we use coding standards published by IDesign net for  NET projects

User · Answer

I have always tried to make my code standard and look as close to the same as possible   This makes it easier for others to read it when they are in charge of updating it   If you do your first example and add a line to it in the middle it will fail     Won t work   if statement      do this      and this  else     do this

User · Answer

I prefer putting a curly brace  But sometimes  ternary operator helps   In stead of    int x   0  if  condition        x   30    else       x   10      One should simply do   int x   condition   30   20   Also imagine a case    if  condition      x   30  else if  condition1      x   10  else if  condition2      x   20    It would be much better if you put the curly brace in

User · Answer

Use braces for all if statements even the simple ones  Or  rewrite a simple if statement to use the ternary operator   if  someFlag     someVar   someVal1     else    someVar   someVal2       Looks much nicer like this   someVar  someFlag    someVal1     someVal2     But only use the ternary operator if you are absolutely sure there s nothing else that needs to go in the if else blocks

User · Answer

One problem with leaving out statement blocks is the else-ambiguity  That is C-inspired languages ignore indentation and so have no way of separating this   if one      if two          foo        else         bar      From this   if one      if two          foo    else     bar

User · Answer

Personally I use the first style only throw an exception or return from a method prematurely  Like argument Checking at the beginning of a function  because in these cases  rarely do I have have more than one thing to do  and there is never an else   Example     if  argument    null      throw new ArgumentNullException  argument     if  argument  lt  0      return false    Otherwise I use the second style

[if-statement] Is it a bad practice to use an if-statement without curly braces?

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