Question

A terminal semicolon after an if condition is optional.
a) True
b) False

Answer 1

The statement is false because in many programming languages, a semicolon terminates a statement. Placing a semicolon after an if condition creates an empty statement and disrupts the logical flow of the program, potentially leading to bugs.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement 'A terminal semicolon after an if condition is optional.' is false. In programming languages such as C, C++, and Java, the semicolon is used as a statement terminator. This means that when you place a semicolon directly after an if statement's condition, it terminates the condition statement and creates an empty statement block. This could lead to bugs in the program because the code block that should execute if the condition is true does not get executed. The correct procedural flow is disturbed.

For example, in a properly structured if statement:

if(condition) {
// Code to execute if the condition is true
}

Adding a semicolon directly after the if condition like so:

if(condition); {
// Code to execute if the condition is true
}

This will result in the code block always executing, regardless of the condition, because the semicolon terminates the if statement prematurely.