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wjgilmore · 05-18-2009, 04:58 PM

FWIW while initially ternary operators can be a bit confusing to read, over time I've found them indispensable primarily for reason of writing compact code. For instance, I regularly use a Zend Framework view helper which will return "his" if a user object's gender attribute is set to "m", and "her" if the attribute is set to "f". Using a ternary, I can make this determination within the view helper like so:

PHP Code:


			
return $user->gender == "m" ? "his" : "her";

So while indeed the ternary may be a bit of a bear to understand at first, they can wind up removing literally hundreds of lines of code otherwise required by an if statement which ultimately performs an identical task.

Just my $0.02,
Jason
==
W. Jason Gilmore
Author "Easy PHP Websites with the Zend Framework"
http://www.easyphpwebsites.com/

05-18-2009, 04:58 PM	#12 (permalink)
wjgilmore The Wanderer Join Date: May 2009 Location: Columbus, Ohio Posts: 10 Thanks: 0	FWIW while initially ternary operators can be a bit confusing to read, over time I've found them indispensable primarily for reason of writing compact code. For instance, I regularly use a Zend Framework view helper which will return "his" if a user object's gender attribute is set to "m", and "her" if the attribute is set to "f". Using a ternary, I can make this determination within the view helper like so: PHP Code: `return $user->gender == "m" ? "his" : "her";` So while indeed the ternary may be a bit of a bear to understand at first, they can wind up removing literally hundreds of lines of code otherwise required by an if statement which ultimately performs an identical task. Just my $0.02, Jason == W. Jason Gilmore Author "Easy PHP Websites with the Zend Framework" http://www.easyphpwebsites.com/