Ternary statement [was Re: [Javascript] Show and hide multiple div tags]

[Triche Osborne]

liorean wrote:
> On 13/05/06, Triche Osborne <wdlists at triche-osborne.com>
> 
>> The point was that it has to be part of a completed statement--that is,
>> the returned results must be used in some way.
> 
> 
> No, they don't. Expressions may be Statements in and of themselves if
> they appear as ExpressionStatements. The difference is that then the
> return value is automatically discarded.
> 
> Wrong. They are both fully valid ExpressionStatements, and thereby
> they do form complete statements. They are pointless since they
> discard the return value, but they are complete statements.
> 
Forgive me. I'm not trying to be pugnacious, and I do recognize that 
everything you've said is technically correct. However, I teach new 
scripters and their biggest problem with this form is in distinguishing 
between a useful statement that performs some action and an expression 
that produces disregarded results. That is, they do something like this 
. . .

  navigator.platform == 'MacPPC'
       ? 'command click to do some stuff'
       : 'ctrl click to do some stuff';

and expect something to happen, only, of course, nothing does.
	Perhaps I should not have assumed so, but since the questioner was 
unfamiliar with the form, I thought he might run into the same problem, 
though perhaps I shouldn't have used such absolute terms.

> 
> Oh, and just for the record: "ternary operator" means
> operator-with-three-operands. 

I'm aware of that. The word "ternary" isn't even a programming-specific 
term, but a general term for anything with three parts, whether that 
thing is an operator or a musical chord. (I suppose that if any one 
"owns" it, musicians have dibs.)
	I have heard and seen the terms "ternary," "ternary conditional" and 
"conditional" used interchageably to describe this operator, and not 
just in JavaScript. I was first introduced to it as the "ternary 
operator" (this was not in JavaScript), and so tend to call it that.

Triche