Comparing ONE value with MANY others

[Ursego]

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by Ursego » 21 Feb 2013, 21:51

Comparing one value with many other values, use the switch/choose case construction instead of multiple ||/OR operators, so the compared value is mentioned in the code only once.

In this situation, we are not really switching/choosing between options (so we can call it "a fake switch/choose"), but why not to do our code more readable if the programming language doesn't allow the IN clause like T-SQL and PL/SQL do?

*** BAD code: ***

PB:

Code: Select all

if ls_city = "Toronto" or ls_city = "Boston" or ls_city = "Chicago" then
   ls_message = "Nice city!"
end if

Java:

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if (city == "Toronto" || city == "Boston" || city == "Chicago") {
   message = "Nice city!";
}

*** GOOD code: ***

PB:

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choose case ls_city
case "Toronto", "Boston", "Chicago"
   ls_message = "Nice city!"
end choose

Java:

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switch (city) {
   case "Toronto":
   case "Boston":
   case "Chicago":
      message = "Nice city!";
      break;
}

PowerBuilder developers can also utilize the iin() function.

In SQL, use the IN construction instead of multiple OR operators, if possible.

For example, you want to find all the employees which have the first, the middle or the last name "John" (yes, it can be a last name too, like one great English singer!).

*** BAD code: ***

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SELECT * FROM emp WHERE first_name = 'John' OR middle_name = 'John' OR last_name = 'John'

*** GOOD code: ***

Code: Select all

SELECT * FROM emp WHERE 'John' IN (first_name, middle_name, last_name)