What is the best practice concerning C# short-circuit evaluation?
c#
Solution
In terms of coding practice which is the better to use and why?
Simple answer: always use the short-circuited versions. There’s simply no reason not to. Additionally, you make your code clearer because you express your intent: logical evaluation. Using the bitwise (logical) operations implies that you want just that: bit operations, not logical evaluation (even though the MSDN calls them “logical operators” as well, when applied to boolean values).
Additionally, since short-circuiting only evaluates what needs evaluating, it’s often faster, and it allows to write such code as
bool nullorempty = str == null || str.Length == 0;
(Notice that to solve this particular problem a better function already exists, namely `string.IsNullOrEmpty` which you also used in your question.) This code wouldn’t be possible with the bitwise logical operations because even if `str` were `null`, the second expression would get evaluated, resulting in a `NullReferenceException`.
EDIT: If you want side-effects to occur in a logical context please still don’t use bitwise operations. This is a typical example of being too clever. The next maintainer of the code (or even yourself, after a few weeks) wo sees this code will think “hmm, this code can be cleared up to use conditional operators,” thus inadvertedly breaking the code. I pity whoever is in charge of fixing this bug.
Instead, if you have to rely on side, effects, make them explicit:
bool hasBuzzed = checkMakeBuzz();
bool isFrobbed = checkMakeFrob();
bool result = hasBuzzed || isFrobbed;
Granted, three lines instead of one. But a much clearer code as a result.
Problem
An answer and subsequent debate in the comments in another thread prompted me to ask: In C# || and && are the short-circuited versions of the logical operators | and & respectively. Example usage: ``` if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(text1) | String.IsNullOrEmpty(text2) | String.IsNullOrEmpty(text3)) { //... } ``` versus: ``` if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(text1) || String.IsNullOrEmpty(text2) || String.IsNullOrEmpty(text3)) { //... } ``` In terms of coding practice which is the better to use and why? Note: I do realize this question is similar to this question but I believe it warrants a language specific discussion.