- if/else
- Ternary Operator
- Nested ifs
- else if
- Bronze Challenge
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Ternary Operator
The ternary operator is very similar to an if/else statement, but has more concise syntax. The syntax looks likes this: a ? b : c. In English, the ternary operator reads something like, “If a is true, then do b. Otherwise, do c.”
Let’s rewrite the town population check that used if/else using the ternary operator instead.
Listing 3.3 Using the ternary operator
...if population < 10000 {message = "\(population) is a small town!"} else {message = "\(population) is pretty big!"}message = population < 10000 ? "\(population) is a small town!" : "\(population) is pretty big!" ...
The ternary operator can be a source of controversy: some programmers love it; some programmers loathe it. We come down somewhere in the middle. This particular usage is not very elegant. Your assignment to message requires more than a simple a ? b : c. The ternary operator is great for concise statements, but if your statement starts wrapping to the next line, we think you should use if/else instead.
Hit Command-Z to undo, removing the ternary operator and restoring your if/else statement.
Listing 3.4 Restoring if/else
...message = population < 10000 ? "\(population) is a small town!" :"\(population) is pretty big!"if population < 10000 { message = "\(population) is a small town!" } else { message = "\(population) is pretty big!" } ...