<@U5HT6HNF2> A few thoughts here: <http://beust.com/weblog/2016/01/14/a-close-look-at-kotlins-let/>...

# getting-started

[cedric]

@tulio A few thoughts here: http://beust.com/weblog/2016/01/14/a-close-look-at-kotlins-let/
tldr: I tend to stick to if

[diego-gomez-olvera]

cedric: let is good for var, which must generally be avoided but it is needed sometimes.

[cedric]

Can you elaborate?

[diego-gomez-olvera]

var can change, and let extracts a local constant value (it). I just saw in the comments the one from ‘Justin Lee’, which gives the same reason

[cedric]

Ah yes indeed

[trevjones]

if you want to avoid it and avoid renaming can’t you just shadow it? thing?.let { thing -> thing.doStuff() }

[cedric]

Yes shadowing works too. Usually not recommended but it's basically the exact same variable, just transtyped from T? to T, so purists might give this infraction a pass

[trevjones]

I do agree with what you are saying about if without else branch is typically a smell. it usually implies a stateful soupy mess imo

[cedric]

I don't connect the abence of else with statefulness (nor that statefulness is necessarily bad) but I do agree that the absence of a let is suspicious in my blog post

[roberto.guerra]

I tend to stick with if also. I find it much more readable in the long run when I go back to read the code.

[crpr]

Swift has a if let that allows for the else. Maybe in a new kotlin version

[Daniel]

nullable?.let { doSomethingNotNull(it) } ?: doSomesingElse()

Is the construct for the else branch in Kotlin if i am not mistaken