Java: Ternary with no return. (For method calling)
No, you can't. But what's the point of this over an if-else
statement? Are you really trying to save 7 characters?
if (name.isChecked()) {
name.setChecked(true);
} else {
name.setChecked(false);
}
or if you prefer bad style:
if (name.isChecked()) name.setChecked(true); else name.setChecked(false);
Never mind the fact that you can just do (in this case):
name.setChecked(name.isChecked());
The point of the ternary or "conditional" operator is to introduce conditionals into an expression. In other words, this:
int max = a > b ? a : b;
is meant to be shorthand for this:
int max;
if ( a > b ) {
max = a;
} else {
max = b;
}
If there is no value being produced, the conditional operator is not a shortcut.
I was wondering if it was possible to do a ternary operation but without returning anything.
No it is not possible:
The 2nd and 3rd operands are required to be non-void expressions; i.e. they must produce some actual value.
"It is a compile-time error for either the second or the third operand expression to be an invocation of a void method." - JLS 15.25.
A ternary expression is an expression, and cannot be used as a statement.
"Certain kinds of expressions may be used as statements by following them with semicolons." ... and the ternary expression is not one of those kinds - JLS 14.8.
If you really, really want to use a ternary expression but not use the value of the expression, then the simplest thing is to assign the value to a dummy variable, and add an annotation to suppress the warning about the variable not being used.
But a better idea is to use a plain if
statement.
If it's not possible in Java is it possible in other languages, if so which ones apply?
I'm a bit rusty, but I believe that C, C++ and Perl all allow arbitrary expressions to be used in places where their values are not used.