Ternary Operator vs. If/Else: When to Use Which?

Comparison of ternary operator and if/else statement

In programming, the ternary operator (?:) provides a concise way to evaluate expressions and assign values ​​based on the results. It is a shorter alternative to if/else code blocks.

To understand how the ternary operator works, let’s compare it with a regular if/else statement. Consider the following example:

<code class="language-java">boolean isValueBig = value > 100 ? true : false;</code>

This ternary operator assigns the value of the first expression (value > 100) to the variable isValueBig. If the expression evaluates to true, isValueBig will be assigned true, otherwise it will be assigned false.

Equivalence with if/else statements

The equivalent if/else statement of the above ternary operator is as follows:

<code class="language-java">boolean isValueBig;

if (value > 100) {
    isValueBig = true;
} else {
    isValueBig = false;
}</code>

As you can see, the ternary operator provides a more compact way to perform the same conditional assignment. It is particularly useful when the result is simple and does not require any additional logic operations or blocks of code.

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