alt Hacker NewsA comment <https://github.com/LuaJIT/LuaJIT/issues/1475#issuecomment-47...> has already been made on the issue regarding the ternary operator, recommending `if x then y else z` over `x ? y : z`. This is exactly how it's done with if-then-else expressions in Luau <https://luau.org/syntax/#if-then-else-expressions>, another language compatible with Lua, and makes it a ton easier to nest (especially with elseif) and I believe still easier to read than `y if x else z`.
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I think that allowing an if statement to return a value to deal with the ternary introduces a now concept to Lua and that is that the value on the final line of a block is a return value much like Ruby. This changes the logic of the entire language more than adding a ternary. I do prefer the if statement as it allows so much more emergent behaviour, but it does have more implications to consider.
The ternary operator is easy to nest if you put each clause on a separate line. Then it looks just like nested if-then-else.
Exactly. I don't understand why people think the ternary operator is needed when you can just make `if` an expression instead of a statement. Then there is no new syntax to learn and `if` just becomes more useful.