Avoid comparison against nullptr, instead use it as boolean identity. #2168
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hzeller
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Some low-level technicality purists might argue that that the underlying representation should always bleakly shine through. I'd argue that readability and expression of intent is much more important. |
hzeller
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Readability improvement. We never use pointers as an artifact of a low-level memory implementation, we always use it in the context of things that can exist or not. For these, comparing against nullptr uses a low-level technical aspect about the implementation, but not what we _mean_. Using the boolean evaluation is more expressive as it reads more naturally like an existence check `if (thing) thing->dosomething()` C/C++ gives us the improved expressiveness, let's use it.
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fangism
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Apr 24, 2024
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Readability improvement.
We never use pointers as an artifact of a low-level memory implementation, we always use it in the context of things that can exist or not.
For these, comparing against nullptr uses a low-level technical aspect about the implementation, but not what we mean.
Using the boolean evaluation is more expressive as it reads more naturally like an existence check
if (thing) thing->dosomething()C/C++ gives us the improved expressiveness, let's use it.