[R] if then else

[Uwe Ligges]

Duncan Murdoch wrote:
> On 9/30/2006 6:29 AM, Uwe Ligges wrote:
>>
>> Jue.Wang2 at sanofi-aventis.com wrote:
>>> What is the correct form to write statement meaning:
>>>
>>> if (a==1) {b=2; c=3}; else {b=0; c=0};
>>
>>
>> if (a==1) {b=2; c=3} else {b=0; c=0};
> 
> That's valid, but is it "correct form"?  The semicolon at the end is not 
> needed.  I'd say it's a bad idea to use one, because it might give a 
> mistaken impression about the meaning of something like
> 
>  a = 1
>      + 2;
> 
> It's better to avoid semi-colons whenever possible, to make sure the C 
> parser in your brain throws an exception and lets the R parser take over.
> 
> Duncan Murdoch


Of course, Duncan is right, and shame on me for posting it in such a 
pedagogically bad way on R-help, but I could not resist to simply remove 
a single semicolon from the original question.

Thank you, Duncan, for pointing it out.

Uwe