> Sorry so wordy with so little clarity, probably, but I'll use > this example, that I think Neil might have given: > > if(someQuery.recordcount GT 0) > vs. > if(someQuery.recordcount) > > The second, while being "true", isn't as "true" as the first.
That's ridiculous, by definition. There are no gradations within truth values in Boolean logic. > If I were to switch languages, w/#1 it would be clear that > recordcount is numeric, and might shed some light on the > language as a whole. Yes, and I'm normally in favor of explicit, self-documenting code. But this is a trivial piece of information. It's not like, say, pre- and post-increment operators in C-style languages. A CF programmer will have to know the following, for either line of code to make sense: 1. All query objects contain a value called "RecordCount". 2. This value contains the number of records within the query. Now, those things aren't immediately obvious, and therefore require some knowledge about CF. But many programming languages allow implicit evaluation of numeric values as Boolean values, and any programmer who reads the second line of code will either know that and realize that CF must be one of those languages, or they won't. If they don't, they will presumably know that RecordCount is a numeric value, but that CFIF requires a Boolean expression. They can then see, by simply running the code, that CF can figure out how to make sense of it. And this is the kind of problem that you only have to figure out once - the first time you see it, it might be mildly confusing, but once you understand it you'll never be confused again. This differs from generally ambiguous code, which requires you to reinterpret it practically every time you read it. And of course, we make similar assumptions all the time, when reading CF code: <cfset numericvar = "42"> <cfset numericvar = numericvar & "17"> <cfset result = numericvar * 10> <!--- wtf? I thought numericvar contained a string! ---> Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ Fig Leaf Software provides the highest caliber vendor-authorized instruction at our training centers in Washington DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, or on-site at your location. Visit http://training.figleaf.com/ for more information! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:255102 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4
