Thread: Better way of doing this?

This is fairly simple, and I have 1 way of doing it, but I don't like it and I feel that there should be an easier way but I can't find it This is my (pseudo)code:

Code:

void getDirList(bool wantDirectory, (...))
{
     (...)
     do
     {
          if(wantDirectory)
          {
               if(fileData.attributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY)
                    add the filename;
          }
          else
          {
               if(!(fileData.attributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY))
                    add the filename;
          }
     }while(there's still more files)
}

It feels like the if/else should be eliminated, replaced by just one check of some sort, but I can't see how. Does anybody else have any ideas?

Code:

void getDirList(bool wantDirectory, (...))
{
     (...)
     do
     {
          if(!wantDirectory ^ (fileData.attributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY))
                    add the filename;
     }while(there's still more files)
}

No.. Use the excusive-or '^' operator. Basically, it returns true if exactly one of its arguments is true. So, for simplicity say your two conditions are 'p' and 'q'. Then both of these formulae will return true if either both are false or both are true, and return false otherwise.

!(p ^ q)
!p ^ q equivalently p ^ !q

Actually, for clarity of code, I'd structure it like this:

Code:

if(p && q) ...
else if(!p && !q) ...
... or ...
if( (p && q) || (!p && !q) ) ...

Heh, both on the dot. Truthfully, I was thinking that it would either be XOR or another comparison involving wantDirectory, but I couldn't figure out how to put it Thanks guys!

jlou's answer should work too Zach, but ours is nicer.

Both screw with my mind
Now, the question is... which is more readable, and which runs faster?

Originally posted by FillYourBrain
jlou's answer should work too Zach, but ours is nicer.

True true... I was being a bit hasty, and didn't see the '!= 0' bit.

Ah well, all equally obfuscated solutions.

Originally posted by Hunter2
Both screw with my mind
Now, the question is... which is more readable, and which runs faster?

Don't worry about speed that much. It really won't make too much of a difference which one you do (nothing noticeable). I edited my post above to include the "readable" version (bah! who wants that!).

Ooooooooo, the elusive logical OR! I shoulda thought of that earlier.. but then, I would have missed out on all the fun with the various obfuscated ways of doing it. Heck, I think I'll go with the XOR just 'cuz I've never used it before. Maybe having it as a code example will come in handy sometime in the future

Oh, just one thing I found out, it should be:

Code:

if(!wantDirectory ^ ((fileData.attributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY) != 0))

Because ^ is a bitwise operator and (fileData.attributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY) is almost certainly never going to be exactly 1, and wantDirectory is only ever going to be 1 or 0 (the 0 works with this arrangement, but not the 1).

I found that out when directories started showing up under the files list

if(wantDirectory ^ !(fileData.attributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY) )

would do it too. Glad you caught that one.

Right! I'll go with that one, I didn't like the "!= 0" anyways