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copied!<blockquote> <p>In terms of coding practice which is the better to use and why?</p> </blockquote> <p>Simple answer: always use the short-circuited versions. There’s simply no reason not to. Additionally, you make your code clearer because you express your <em>intent</em>: logical evaluation. Using the bitwise (logical) operations implies that you want just that: bit operations, not logical evaluation (even though the MSDN calls them “logical operators” as well, when applied to boolean values).</p> <p>Additionally, since short-circuiting only evaluates what needs evaluating, it’s often faster, and it allows to write such code as</p> <pre><code>bool nullorempty = str == null || str.Length == 0; </code></pre> <p>(Notice that to solve this particular problem a better function already exists, namely <code>string.IsNullOrEmpty</code> which you also used in your question.) This code wouldn’t be possible with the bitwise logical operations because even if <code>str</code> were <code>null</code>, the second expression would get evaluated, resulting in a <code>NullReferenceException</code>.</p> <p><strong>EDIT</strong>: If you <em>want</em> side-effects to occur in a logical context please <em>still</em> don’t use bitwise operations. This is a typical example of being too clever. The next maintainer of the code (or even yourself, after a few weeks) wo sees this code will think “hmm, this code can be cleared up to use conditional operators,” thus inadvertedly breaking the code. I pity whoever is in charge of fixing this bug.</p> <p>Instead, if you have to rely on side, effects, make them explicit:</p> <pre><code>bool hasBuzzed = checkMakeBuzz(); bool isFrobbed = checkMakeFrob(); bool result = hasBuzzed || isFrobbed; </code></pre> <p>Granted, three lines instead of one. But a much clearer code as a result.</p>

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