“We see the world through the lens of all our experiences; that is a fundamental part of the human condition.” -- Madeleine M. Kunin
Everyone has conditions. Conditions on what you prefer to eat, watch, listen to and do. Every person’s condition exists because of life experiences that are profoundly different compared to everybody else’s. Your conditions define how you see and understand the world around you.
In Computer Science, we learned about conditional statements that goes inside any of the control structures such as if-else, while, or for loops. Conditional statements allow programmers to define actions when a Boolean type is encountered.
A Boolean type is either 1 for True or 0 for False. There are also conditions that require multiple cases such as comparing integers, decimals, and/or phrases. The conditions can be matching two or more items. The purpose of conditions is to arrive at a single value to know which action to take at a given moment.
Let us use a “what if” clause. A “what if” clause is similar to an if-else control structure, which is generalized as: For all x, if P(x) then Q(x) is true if and only if Q(a) is true, for a particular a. Therefore, P(a) must also be true. To simplify, let’s take an example from conditional sentences:
“If it's raining now, then your laundry is getting wet.”
This statement is true if and only if it’s raining AND you do have your laundry hanging outside. But if you look at it from another angle, if you do not have a laundry hanging outside, but is inside a dryer, then this statement becomes false. Even though the statement does not say it directly, the false value is the second condition that should be checked.
As mentioned before, every positive usually has a negative. Sometimes there is only one positive or true answer, but multiple negative or false statements. The AND keyword makes both the raining and laundry required for the statement to be true. This assessment is called conditional proof.
Depending on circumstances, an OR keyword can be used instead where only one condition must be true for the entire statement to be true. The conditions and the programmer’s thinking highly affect the flow of the control structure. Learning different perspectives allow programmers to figure out the many combinations of true and false statements.
How Are Conditions Used In Web Development?
The more else and else-if inside an if-else clause, the more secure your website becomes especially if these if-else statements contain try-catch error blocks. Most programming languages such as PHP, which is the main language for CMSs like Drupal and WordPress, uses the try-catch exception method to purposely handle errors when a certain condition is reached.
Catching the errors before it happens will allow your website to give feedback to the user instead of sending them a weird message that only developers would understand. The feedback is easily changed and may even help the users fix the problem immediately. This happens when there is an error occurring in a website and you cannot tell if it is an error. Some feedbacks have blended in so well with messages that it improves the website’s overall user interaction.
What Are Your Business Conditions?
If every website is to showcase a narrative, what are the conditions for your stories? Your business has required and optional components. The required conditions should be the factors that create more risks so we can maximize security. Optional conditions are the less risky aspects of your business that can be done as a feature enhancement.
For a minimum viable product (MVP), the first phase of your website is to build the simplest and friendliest user interface and user interaction. This is for both basic and complex websites and web applications. In order for designers and developers to help you determine the true and false statements, you must decide on the conditions first.
If you, the business owner, do not know what conditions you want, how would we be able to start on the project? What does a true and false statement mean to you and your customers? You have to think from both your perspective and your customer’s perspectives.
Best way for us to know is to learn during the Discovery or Information Gathering Phase where we sit with you to discuss what it is you need, want and avoid. Do you have a better idea and understanding of your conditions?
