Implicit conversion to bool

[Nefarel]

In C they didnt have bool type so they have made implicit conversions to bool in control statements like:

Code: Select all

while(length) // length is integer
{
}

if (car) // car is a pointer
{
}


In C#/Java they have removed that conversions, but Cobra doesn't. It is shorter syntax, but it is less clear and doesnt read naturally in english So I think Cobra have made things worse here. What do u think?

[Charles]

Well, I'm biased since I created the language, but I'm fine with it.

Python is another language that allows anything to be used in "if" and "while" statements. I felt comfortable with that experience so I carried the design over to Cobra.

[torial]

And Javascript has the concept of truthiness. If you know the semantics of the language, then it is just fine.

[nerdzero]

I see what you're saying, Nefarel. I tend to agree. Usually I'm explicit about it even though I don't need to be.

while length <> 0
    pass

if car <> nil
    pass

As long as you remember 0 is false, nil is false, and everything else is true, you are good to go. You can probably get into trouble with nilable ints and bools though

[hopscc]

Usually I like to present things explicitly as well but here I find the boolean 'truthiness' inference on non booleans
both more (notationally) convenient and clearer to understand .

Especially since the truthness options chosen match the most common checks
0 = false (lengths and counts)
nil = false ( nil references)

if list.count
  # process list contents otherwise its empty

if string.length    # same as string <> ''
  # process string contents otherwise its empty

s as Thing?
if s # same as s <> nil
  # process s otherwise its a nil ref

Its probably just internalising the semantics (and saving some exposition)