[I am inevitable]

Hi.

Reading code off the internet sometimes triggers me. I immediately start thinking: "hmm, why didn't you that, or that?". (I'm not trying to be that smartass or anything, and I'm by any means not the best, just wanted to make things a little clearer, okay, good).

Before we dive in, when writing something, always ask yourself these questions:
- What do I want to know?
- What do I already know?

Trust me, it's extremely helpful.

Here're a couple of dilemmas with examples, and more compact solutions:

1. A guy named Jerry wants a specific command to output the client's team. This is how he did it:

Spoiler

PHP Code:

#include <sourcemod>

#pragma semicolon 1

public void OnPluginStart()
{
    RegConsoleCmd("sm_test", Cmd_Test);
}

public Action Cmd_Test(int iClient, int iArgs)
{
    // Validate the client.
    if (0 < iClient <= MaxClients && IsClientInGame(iClient))
    {
        // If the clients team index is greater than two, i.e, if the client isn't a spectator.
        if (GetClientTeam(iClient) > 2)
        {
            // If the client is in the Counter-Terrorist team.
            if (GetClientTeam(iClient) == 3)
                PrintToChat(iClient, "Yay, you're in the Counter-Terrorist team!");
            
            // If the client is in the Terrorist team.
            else if (GetClientTeam(iClient) == 2)
                PrintToChat(iClient, "Yay, you're in the Terrorist team!");
        }
    }
    
    return Plugin_Handled;
} 


Now, this code is perfectly fine, but. We can shorten it... a lot:

Spoiler

PHP Code:

#include <sourcemod>

#pragma semicolon 1

public void OnPluginStart()
{
    RegConsoleCmd("sm_test", Cmd_Test);
}

public Action Cmd_Test(int iClient, int iArgs)
{
    // Validate the client.
    if (0 < iClient <= MaxClients && IsClientInGame(iClient))
    {
        // We assign the team index to a variable, to save some space.
        int iTeam = GetClientTeam(iClient);
        
        // If the clients team index is greater than two, i.e, if the client isn't a spectator.
        // We can then just use the ternary operator and we save lots of space!
        if (iTeam > 2)
            PrintToChat(iClient, "Yay, you're in the %sTerrorist team!", iTeam == 3 ? "Counter-" : "");
    }
    
    return Plugin_Handled;
} 


2. This one day I was writing a stats plugin and there was this one command that was supposed to create a menu, showing you the top players on the server, based different categories. Here's how I first did it:

Spoiler

PHP Code:

public void Menu_Top_Menu(int iClient)
{
    Menu hMenu = new Menu(Menu_Top_Menu_Handler);
    
    hMenu.SetTitle("Top Menu");
    
    hMenu.AddItem("", "Top Kills");
    hMenu.AddItem("", "Top Headshots");
    hMenu.AddItem("", "Top Noscopes");
    
    hMenu.Display(iClient, MENU_TIME_FOREVER);
}

public int Menu_Top_Menu_Handler(Menu hMenu, MenuAction hAction, int iClient, int iMenu_Param)
{
    if (IsValidClient(iClient))
    {
        switch (hAction)
        {
            case MenuAction_Select:
            {
                char sQuery[256];
                
                switch (iMenu_Param)
                {
                    case 0:
                        Format(sQuery, sizeof(sQuery), "SELECT * FROM user_stats ORDER BY exp DESC");
                    
                    case 1:
                        Format(sQuery, sizeof(sQuery), "SELECT * FROM user_stats ORDER BY kills DESC");
                    
                    case 2:
                        Format(sQuery, sizeof(sQuery), "SELECT * FROM user_stats ORDER BY headshots DESC");
                    
                    case 3:
                        Format(sQuery, sizeof(sQuery), "SELECT * FROM user_stats ORDER BY noscopes DESC");
                }
                
                g_hDatabase.Query(SQL_Top_Callback, sQuery, GetClientUserId(iClient));
            }
            
            case MenuAction_End:
                delete hMenu;
        }
    }
} 


And this too is just fine, but, we can be even more efficient with our lines, and here's the solution I found:

Spoiler

PHP Code:

public void Menu_Top_Menu(int iClient)
{
    Menu hMenu = new Menu(Menu_Top_Menu_Handler);
    
    hMenu.SetTitle("Top Menu");
    
    hMenu.AddItem("kills", "Top Kills");
    hMenu.AddItem("headshots", "Top Headshots");
    hMenu.AddItem("noscopes", "Top Noscopes");
    
    hMenu.Display(iClient, MENU_TIME_FOREVER);
}

public int Menu_Top_Menu_Handler(Menu hMenu, MenuAction hAction, int iClient, int iMenu_Param)
{
    if (IsValidClient(iClient))
    {
        switch (hAction)
        {
            case MenuAction_Select:
            {
                char sColumn[12];
                
                hMenu.GetItem(iMenu_Param, sColumn, sizeof(sColumn));
                
                char sQuery[256];
                Format(sQuery, sizeof(sQuery), "SELECT * FROM user_stats ORDER BY %s DESC;", sColumn);
                
                g_hDatabase.Query(SQL_Top_Callback, sQuery, GetClientUserId(iClient));
            }
            
            case MenuAction_End:
                delete hMenu;
        }
    }
} 


I believe that programming isn't just about making things work, it's about making it nice aswell.

With that being said, you can almost always make your code just a little bit better.

(Also, I don't even know if this page is useful, but, meh).