For a single If I am trying to make a case to always use { }

Question

User113730038 posted

So a few of our devs do the following:

If (a == b) do c;

if (a == b)
  do c;

I want to make a case to do it ALWAYS this way:

if (a == b)
{
    do c;
}

Any links or best practices?

 

Answer 1

User475983607 posted

What is your case? 

Answer 2

User113730038 posted

More readable, less prone to thinking the 3rd line goes in the if.  To name a few.  Hoping there is more.  I was taught to do it the way I have been doing it.  But it's been years so I don't remember why I was told to do that.

Answer 3

User409696431 posted

In addition to what you mention, studies have shown that including the braces improves/speeds up reading and understanding the code.  And, obvioiusly, not putting in the braces opens a door to introduce a bug with a quick update to the if when adding another line to execute.

if( true )
    doSomething();

Updated to

if( true )
    doSomething();
    doAnotherthing();


WHOOPS!

I like consistency.  "Here's an if statement", not "Here's an if statement of type one-line, and here's an if statement of type not-one-line".

You can see that https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/inside-a-program/coding-conventions does not mention the option to leave off the braces, so I would take it as implicit that when they show the layout with braces, they are recommending they always be used.

However, at the end of the day, it's just a convention, and you and your fellow coders can pick whichever you use - but be consistent if you ever expect to read or modify each other's code.

Answer 4

User475983607 posted

More readable, less prone to thinking the 3rd line goes in the if.  To name a few.  Hoping there is more.  I was taught to do it the way I have been doing it.  But it's been years so I don't remember why I was told to do that.

Explain that you your team as well as Kathy's input.

Answer 5

User113730038 posted

Thanks! Just what I was looking for!