Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art

PROCESSING: CREATIVE CODING AND COMPUTATIONAL ART
80
Again, I always use the curly braces and will throughout the book. Getting back to the conditional
statement in the bouncing ball sketch, I am actually checking for either of two
conditions at the same time:
if (xpos>=width-wdth/2 || xpos=starving){
eatAnything();
} else {
eatWhatIsHealthy();
}
The if statement will execute the lines between the first pair of curly braces
({ eatAnthing(); }) if the condition between the parentheses (hunger>=starving) is true.
If the condition is false, the code following the else statement will execute
({ eatWhatIsHealthy(); }). The conditional statement has two paths. You’ll soon realize
that there are a number of ways in coding to do the same thing. Some uptight computer
scientists might tell you that there is a most efficient way to write code, but I don’t totally
buy that. Efficiency is a good thing, but you also need to find a style that suits your personality.
For example, I could rewrite the preceding statements as follows: