Boolean checking in the 'if' condition

Question

Which one is better Java coding style?

boolean status = true;
if (!status) {
    //do sth
} else {
    //do sth
}

or:

Answer 1

It really also depends on how you name your variable.

When people are asking "which is better practice" - this implicitly implies that both are correct, so it's just a matter of which is easier to read and maintain.

If you name your variable "status" (which is the case in your example code), I would much prefer to see

if(status == false) // if status is false

On the other hand, if you had named your variable isXXX (e.g. isReadableCode), then the former is more readable. consider:

if(!isReadable) { // if not readable
  System.out.println("I'm having a headache reading your code");
}