#define if while // ๐คช
this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2025
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Through the magic of make, you can write code that changes if statements to while loops then changes it back after compilation passes or fails.
I only give good advice.
int main() {
useless:
int x = 10;
if (1) {
goto useless;
}
}
This is the real way!
Yea, I saw C style and was disappointed when it didn't abuse gotos.
ELI5 plz
Statements that start with # in C/C++ are known as preprocessor directives, that is, they are executed before compilation begins. OP has used a #define which will replace any instance of A (IF(x)) with B (while (x)) in the code.
So the IF statement is really just a while statement.
But what is it in reference to? What's the "infamous if loop"?
Ah, I believe that would be 
from a college course.
I always wondered why I always had a hard time making developers not call "if" a "loop".
Turns out it was on their tests.
Glad I didn't read my college material, or I would have lost faith in my college professors.
It just occurred to that in Yorkshire dialect a while loop would actually be an until loop. Directives to the rescue!
"Infamous" just refers to newbies who sometimes call if statements "if loops". I've heard this quite a bit.
Infamous because the condition is 1 (or true), the loop never actually exits because it's always true
They used a macro to make 'IF' (which is distinctly not 'if') map to 'while'. So it's really a while(1) loop, which will repeat forever, or until the program is terminated, whichever comes first.
Someone's just being silly.
Thx!
'IF' (which is distinctly not 'if')
Is this something needed "for the meme" or something with this macro or C/C++? Or why the case-sensitivity here? I only know languages like Java, Python, JS. Unfortunately the ancient tongue is not known to me.
i have a colleague always saying if loop (in our language). I'm a bit to shy to tell him his mistakes... People easily hate me but i would like to...
int* ihadatonepointforgottenaboutpoundefinesyoubastard {};