Usability of Curly Brackets [closed]

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Say I have the following code below that only uses 2 curly brackets:

public void listFish(){
System.out.println(name + " with " + numFishCaught + " fish as follows: ");
for (Fish f: fishCaught)
    if (f != null)
    System.out.println(f.toString());}

Will it hurt my code or change the way it runs if I rewrite it this way? What is generally the correct way of using curly brackets? Thanks

public void listFish(){
System.out.println(name + " with " + numFishCaught + " fish as follows: ");
for (Fish f: fishCaught){
    if (f != null){
    System.out.println(f.toString());
    }
}     } 

Answer 1

For a single statement it will remain same, but if you want to group more than one statement in the if block then you have to use curely braces.

if("pie"== "pie"){
    System.out.println("Hurrah!");
    System.out.println("Hurrah!2");
}

if("pie"== "pie")
    System.out.println("Hurrah!"); //without braces only this statement will fall under if
    System.out.println("Hurrah!2"); //not this one

You should see:Blocks

A block is a group of zero or more statements between balanced braces and can be used anywhere a single statement is allowed. The following example, BlockDemo, illustrates the use of blocks:

class BlockDemo {
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          boolean condition = true;
          if (condition) { // begin block 1
               System.out.println("Condition is true.");
          } // end block one
          else { // begin block 2
               System.out.println("Condition is false.");
          } // end block 2
     }
}

Answer 2

Generally, when you create any type of loop and there is only one line of code(that is, only one statement that ends with a semicolon), you do not need the {curly-braces}. However, when you have more than one line that will be executed if the loop is entered, then use the {curly-braces} like so:

public void listFish () {
    System.out.println( name + " with " + numFishCaught + " fish as follows: " );
        for ( Fish f: fishCaught ) {
            if ( f != null ) {
                System.out.println( f.toString() );
            }
        }
}

Code is all about whether or not it can run... I can rewrite the code as follows an it still will run perfectly:

public void listFish () { System.out.println( name + " with " + numFishCaught + " fish as follows: " ); for ( Fish f: fishCaught ) { if ( f != null ) { System.out.println( f.toString() ); } } }

The whole point of lining up the braces and other things is for readability... If you can read it, you're generally good to go!

Answer 3

No, it will not "hurt" your code. Actually, the good practice is to always use curly brackets. To explain - find the difference between those four:

if (2 == 2)
    System.out.println("First line");
    System.out.println("Second line");


if (2 == 2)
    System.out.println("First line");
System.out.println("Second line");


if (2 == 2) {
    System.out.println("First line");
    System.out.println("Second line");
}


if (2 == 2){
    System.out.println("First line");
}
System.out.println("Second line");

When using curly braces everything is clear on the first sight.