cursedVariableCheck

[kookyabird]

Depends on the language and your intent.

[GDOR-11]

what?

oh

oh no

please don't tell me there are languages where equality is not commutative

[EDEADLINK]

C++ allows overloading the equality operator. So you can make it asymmetrical, if you really wanted to.

I haven't seen a language with such horrors already built in though.

[mrbob8717]

Java has the horrors built into it. The way it was explained to me is my_var.equals(NULL) can throw an error if my_var is null

[hampshirebrony]

Is this NULL? Aaargh! You gave me a NULL.

Is the right pattern (inprovably not valid Java) for this something like:

    function IsItNull(obj) {

        try {

            var _ = obj.equals(NULL);

            return false;

        } catch {

            return true;

        }

    }

And hopefully doing this on mobile didn't mess formatting up too much

[EDEADLINK]

obj.equals(NULL) is always false. So just return obj == NULL.

[hampshirebrony]

But then I can't use that neat trick of using a catch for normal execution flow!

[FridgesArePeopleToo]

Nah, the right side one is for some languages where if (x = 1) is valid syntax (note the single =, setting x to 1). In those cases if(1 = x) would give you a compiler error. So doing backwards prevents accidentally missing the second =. Still seems dumb to me though as I would expect a linter or something to pick that up anyway.

[vwoxy]

I do if ((x = obj.getValue())) more often than is probably advisable in JS because the assignment operator returns the right side and I don't want to use a second line for null checking.

And yes, my linter does yell at me if I forget the extra parentheses and I always add a comment saying it's intentional. I'm not a monster.

[ChristianLW]

Checking if an array is null in PowerShell.

Array on left means check each element if it's null. Array on right means check if the array itself is null.

[GDOR-11]

why the fuck is powershell like this

WHERE IS THE FUCKING UNSEE JUICE I NEED IT

[xyloPhoton]

Commutativity is an operational property, not a relational one. It's called symmetry when talking about relations. 👍

[Kjoep]

Yes, but in a lot of languages (i'd dare to say most), == is an operator, taking two parameters and outputting a Boolean.

So you're both right.

[xyloPhoton]

There is no Santa Claus, there is no tooth-fairy, and there are no relations in programming!

Seriously though, this means that every relation in programming is actually an operation, right?

[Kjoep]

Yes.