Re: ?: = Obfuscation?

[imp]

Like most things in perl the ternary operator can both help and hinder readability.

I prefer ternary for this:

# With ternary
my $x = exists $hash{key}
      ? $hash{key}
      : 'default'

# Without
my $x;
if (exists $hash{key}) {
    $x = $hash{key};
}
else {
    $x = 'default';
}

I'm on the fence for this:

# With ternary
my $x = $x > 5
      ? 5
      : $x + 1;

# With if

if ($x > 5) {
    $x = 5;
}
else {
   $x++;
}

And dead set against this:

my $x = $y > 5 ? ($y = 0) : ($y = 1);

[ikegami]

And dead set against this:

my $x = $y > 5 ? ($y = 0) : ($y = 1);

As you should be.

my $x = ($y = $y > 5 ? 0 : 1);

and

$y = $y > 5 ? 0 : 1;
my $x = $y;

are much more readable.

[tye]

As is

my $x= $y= $y > 5 ? 0 : 1;