What Does Conditional Logical Operator?
A conditional logical operator, in C#, includes a conditional AND operator (&&) and conditional OR operator (||). It is a conditional version of a Boolean logical operator (& and |).
Conditional logical operators are used in decision-making statements, which determine the path of execution based on the condition specified as a combination of multiple Boolean expressions. They are helpful in generating efficient code by ignoring unnecessary logic and saving execution time, especially in logical expressions where multiple conditional operators are used.
Unlike the Boolean logical operators “&” and “|,” which always evaluate both the operands, conditional logical operators execute the second operand only if necessary. As a result, conditional logical operators are faster than Boolean logical operators and are often preferred. The execution using the conditional logical operators is called as “short-circuit” or “lazy” evaluation.
Conditional logical operators are also known as short-circuiting logical operators.
Techopedia Conditional Logical Operator
The conditional AND operator (&&) is used to perform a logical AND of its operands of Boole type. The evaluation of the second operand occurs only if it is necessary. It is similar to the Boolean logical operator “&,” except for the condition when the first operand returns false, the second operand will not be evaluated. This is because the “&&” operation is true only if the evaluation of both the operands returns true.
The conditional OR operator (||) is used to perform a logical OR of its operands of Boole type. The evaluation of the second operand does not occur if the first operand is evaluated as true. It differs from the Boolean logical operator “|” by performing a “short-circuit” evaluation wherein the second operand is not evaluated when the first operand is evaluated as true. This is due to the fact that the result of the “||” operation is true if the evaluation of any of the two operands returns true.
For example, to validate a number to be within an upper and a lower limit, the logical AND operation can be performed on the two conditions checking for the upper and lower limit, which are expressed as Boolean expressions.
Conditional logical operators are left-associative, which implies that they are evaluated in order from left to right in an expression where these operators exist in multiple occurrences.
