From: Trans <transfire@...>
Date: 2008-10-03T04:20:48+09:00
Subject: Re: Is Assignment in a Conditional an Idiom?



On Oct 2, 2:55 pm, "Robert Dober" <robert.do...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 8:38 PM,  <wort...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi
>
> > I was just reading the following blog post
> >http://www.elctech.com/blog/clarity-over-cleverness-but-what-is-clever,
> > and like the author, it is the first time I have seen code as he
> > describes.  From the comments it would seem that some think it is an
> > idiom to be used, and perhaps others do not.
>
> > Just curious as to how common this use it?  I do tend to side with
> > view that it is not clear at first glance.
>
> > Thanks
> > Richard
>
> It seems very bad code to me, what is wrong with the following?
>    @attributes['comments'] = @attributes['comments'].split( " " )
> rescue @attributes['comments']
> although I suspect that
>          ... @attributes['comments'].split ...
> is what the good fellow really wants.

I wouldn't recommend that. Rule of thumb, don't use rescue when a
regular condition does the job.

Also one must consider if there is a difference between key presence
and key returning nil. In which case it may be better to use:

  if @attributes.key?('comments')

T.