Proper form in C++

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What is the difference between these (bCondition == NULL) and (NULL==bCondition)?

From this question it says "const object on left side of comparison" is some how "better" than doing otherwise. Why is this?

Saying `if (5 == i)` isn't as much any more used. It's supposed to stop from saying you `if (i = 5)` by mistake. Sometimes called "Yoda Conditions" it is. A page of that and some others [here is](http://www.dodgycoder.net/2011/11/yoda-conditions-pokemon-exception.html). — chris, Aug 30 '12 at 20:35
Yoda conditions are often considered poor practice now, since they are less readable and most compilers warn about assignment anyway. — ssube, Aug 30 '12 at 20:39

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 30 '12 at 20:37

Any decent compiler will warn you about assignment within a conditional expression, so that form isn't very relevant these days.

On another point "use unsigned for variables that are >= 0 // nice trick " I heard that using unsigned can be confusing and shouldn't use unless there's a reason. Does anyone agree or refute this?

Use unsigned when the value should be unsigned.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 30 '12 at 20:36

This is to avoid the "=" versus "==" mistake. If you mean "==" but type "=" and the object on the LHS is constant, the compiler will complain. For example,

if ( 3 == x )

is preferred to

if ( x == 3 )

because if you type

if ( 3 = x )

then you'll get an error, but if you type

if ( x = 3 )

then you may get a bug!

Proper form in C++

2 Answers2