Got three variables, how see which one is the smallest?

(John Andersson) #1

I got three variables, what is the quickest and most efficient way to see which one is the smallest?

(Martí Angelats i Ribera) #2

I guess (a bit blindly actually) that this is the fastest.

smallest = (var1 < var2 ? var1 : var2);
if (var3 < smallest) smallest = var3;

But it’s easier to use the Math class (but this is a bit slower for sure)

Math.min(var1, var2, var3);
(John Andersson) #3

Thank you, what does the question mark and colon do? :slight_smile:

(Martí Angelats i Ribera) #4

It’s called ternary operator. It’s stroctures this way:

boolean ? if_its_true : if_its_false

The entire exprecions will be if_its_true or if_its_false depending of the boolean. Of course the boolean can be a comparation (like in the example).

In the case above it’s equivalent to this:

if (var1 < var2)
{
result = var1;
}
else
{
result = var2;
}

PD: In the ternari operator you get the value before assign it into the variable and in the equivalent you assign differents values to the variable dependig of the condition.