Can you store a variable inside a if-clause?

Question

I\'m kinda waiting for a \'no\' answer on this question.

I was interested if you can save a variable at the same time when you checking it in an if-clause.

Answer 1

Three points that completely fail to answer the question:

null is evil. Don't write methods that return it. Your example problem would then disappear.

I think you might be missing out on encapsulation. Instead of foo.getBar() could the interface of foo be made such that you perform a "tell don't ask" operation?

Side-effects in expression tends to cause bad code. Prefer more, simpler lines to fewer, buggy lines. The usual exception if using ++ to increment an index when accessing a buffer, or similar iterator style algorithms.