164: Mainline

Although you can rely on the rule that if-false statements belong to the nearest unmatched if statement, it is better programming practice to use braces to avoid potential misreading.

In the following example, the question mark would be replaced by expensive, because the braces clearly group the if-false statement with the second if statement.

if (ratio > 10)  
  { 
  if (ratio < 30) 
    printf ("It is in the normal range.\n"); 
    else printf ("It is ?.\n"); 
  } 

On the other hand, in the following example, it is clear that the question mark would be replaced by cheap, because this time the braces clearly group the if-false statement with the first if statement.

if (ratio > 10)  
  { 
  if (ratio < 30) 
    printf ("It is in the normal range.\n"); 
  } 
  else printf ("It is ?.\n");