Re: Java compatibility issues (WAS: MF having issues?)

Oliver Wong wrote:
>
>    The "if (3 == x)" is an idiom in C because in C, assignment
> statements are legal. So a programmer might mistakenly type "if (x =
> 3)", which will MODIFY x (assign it the value 3) as part of the
> conditional test.
>
>    If the programmer gets in the habit of putting the literal first, the
> equivalent typo would be "if (3 = x)", and the compiler would complain
> that you can't assign to a literal, thus catching the error.
>
>    The Java example has the same issue as above (ordering of the terms
> being compared), but an additional one in that a lot of (beginning?)
> Java programmers don't realize that String literals are themselves
> objects, and so you can use the dereferencing operator '.' on them, and
> invoke their methods.
>
>    The reason for having the literal first is to avoid a
> NullPointerException in the case where myString is null.

You know, this makes more sense than a lot of the C (and C-like)
language stuff I've seen.  You're right, that it does make more sense to
says "if x = 3" than "if 3 = x".  Thanks for this explanation - at least
one person here is better off for it.  :)

(I knew you could change the value with a single "=" - catching it like
that is what was new to me.)


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