Is “If” condition better than ?? and casting

Question

I have following two approaches for same functionality - one with "if” condition and one with "?? and casting". Which approach is better? Why?

Code:

  Int16? reportID2 = null;
  //Other code

  //Approach 1
  if (reportID2 == null)
  {
       command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@report_type_code", DBNull.Value);
  }
  else
  {
     command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@report_type_code", reportID2);
  }

  //Approach 2
  command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@report_type_code", ((object) reportID2) ?? DBNull.Value);

UPDATE

Based on the answers, following are the benefits of ??

1. Increased readability
2. Decreased branching deapth of program flow (reduced cyclomatic complexity)

Note: Cost of casting as object is negligible.

REFERENCE

1. Null-Coallescing Operator - Why Casting?

Answer 1

The null coalescing operator (??) is a better approach because it does the same thing as your initial block but in a single, easy to read line. This makes the code more readable and more maintainable.

This is one of many examples of syntactic sugar, that is to say code statements which are "shortcuts" for representing a commonly-used idea.i++ is another example of this, as it replaces i = i + 1. It is cleaner and simpler, just like ??.

Answer 2

I always use null-coalescing operator in such cases:

command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@name", value ?? DBNull.Value);

command.ExecuteScalar() as int? ?? -1;

etc.

It increases code readability, decreases branching depth. Also was created especially for database-related scenarios such as ADO.NET.