Php

It’d be nice if PHP had a quick Or-Equals expression like Ruby: user ||= User.new but we make do with few slightly less sugary idioms. The standard way if (isset($user)) { $user = new User(); } A bit shorter $user = isset($user) ? $user : new User(); Shorter still This is my preferred way of making sure variables are set. Short and clear. isset($user) || $user = new User(); Expressions with defaults It’s usually best not to treat variable assignments as booleans but in cases like this I think it’s clear enough what’s happening. ...