Avoid comparison against nullptr, instead use it as boolean identity. #2168
Conversation
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
|
Some low-level technicality purists might argue that that the underlying representation should always bleakly shine through. I'd argue that readability and expression of intent is much more important. |
fangism
approved these changes
Apr 24, 2024
Readability improvement. We never use pointers as an artifact of a low-level memory implementation, we always use it in the context of things that can exist or not. For these, comparing against nullptr uses a low-level technical aspect about the implementation, but not what we _mean_. Using the boolean evaluation is more expressive as it reads more naturally like an existence check `if (thing) thing->dosomething()` C/C++ gives us the improved expressiveness, let's use it.
Sign up for free
to join this conversation on GitHub.
Already have an account?
Sign in to comment
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.
This suggestion is invalid because no changes were made to the code.
Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is closed.
Suggestions cannot be applied while viewing a subset of changes.
Only one suggestion per line can be applied in a batch.
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.
Applying suggestions on deleted lines is not supported.
You must change the existing code in this line in order to create a valid suggestion.
Outdated suggestions cannot be applied.
This suggestion has been applied or marked resolved.
Suggestions cannot be applied from pending reviews.
Suggestions cannot be applied on multi-line comments.
Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is queued to merge.
Suggestion cannot be applied right now. Please check back later.
Readability improvement.
We never use pointers as an artifact of a low-level memory implementation, we always use it in the context of things that can exist or not.
For these, comparing against nullptr uses a low-level technical aspect about the implementation, but not what we mean.
Using the boolean evaluation is more expressive as it reads more naturally like an existence check
if (thing) thing->dosomething()C/C++ gives us the improved expressiveness, let's use it.