Testing for nil in Objective-C -- if(x != nil) vs if(x)

Question

Most of the examples I found on the net write this:

if(x != nil)     // ... 

Is there any problems with this?

if(x)     // ... 

I tried both in a simple program and couldn't found any difference.

Answer 1

In Objective-C, nil is defined as a value called __DARWIN_NULL, which essentially evaluates to 0 or false in if-statements. Therefore, writing if (x == nil) is the same as writing if (!x) and writing if (x != nil) is equal to if (x) (since comparing to false creates a negation, and comparing to true keeps the condition the same).

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You can write your code either way, and it really depends on which you think is more readable. I find if (x) to make more sense, but it depends on your style.

It's like comparing if (someCondition == true) versus if (someCondition).
It all depends on you, and who's going to be reading the code.

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Edit: As Yuji correctly mentions, since Objective-C is a superset of C, any condition that evaluates to a value other than 0 is considered to be true, and therefore, if someCondition in the example above were to evaluate to an integer value of, say, -1, comparing it to true would result in false, and the if-statement would not be evaluated. Something to be aware of.

Answer 2

Both

if (x != nil) 

and

if ( x ) 

are equivalent, so pick the variant that in your opinion makes your code more readable for you (and others who will read and support your code)