Well...
I did a few tests with GCC and this function call:
add(argc, (argc > 1)?(argv[1][0] > 5)?50:10:1, (argc > 2)?(argv[2][0] > 5)?50:10:1, (argc > 3)?(argv[3][0] > 5)?50:10:1);
The resulting assembler code with gcc -O3 had 35 instructions.
The equivalent code with if/else + intermediate variables had 36. With nested if/else using the fact that 3 > 2 > 1, I got 44. I did not even try to expand this into separate function calls.
Now I did not do any performance analysis, nor did I do a quality check of the resulting assembler code, but at something simple like this with no loops e.t.c. I believe shorter is better.
It appears that there is some value to ternary operators after all :-)
That is only if code speed is absolutely crucial, of course. If/else statements are much easier to read when nested than something like (c1)?(c2)?(c3)?(c4)?:1:2:3:4. And having huge expressions as function arguments is not fun.
Also keep in mind that nested ternary expressions make refactoring the code - or debugging by placing a bunch of handy printfs() at a condition - a lot harder.
