Ifcondition

Ifcondition is a term used to describe the condition tested by an if statement in programming and computer science. It represents the boolean expression or truth test that determines which block of code executes. In most languages, the ifcondition is evaluated to true or false; if true, the program executes the then-branch, and if false, the else-branch is executed when present. The concept is language-agnostic and appears in imperative, procedural, and object-oriented paradigms. Some languages support short-circuit evaluation of logical operators within the ifcondition, affecting whether subexpressions are evaluated.

In practice, the design of ifcondition affects readability. Complex ifconditions can be refactored into simpler predicates or guided by separate functions. Nested ifconditions can be replaced with else-if chains or pattern matching in languages that support it. The ternary conditional operator is often used as a compact expression of a simple ifcondition.

Examples: pseudocode: if condition then perform A else perform B. In C-family languages: if (condition) { A } else { B }. In Python: if condition: A else: B. In SQL: CASE WHEN condition THEN A ELSE B END.

Origin and usage: The concept has roots in early programming languages and remains fundamental to control flow. See also: boolean expression, conditional statement, switch, ternary operator, guard clause.