Help with organizing code

[WindyTundra]

I’m not a very organized person and my scripts show it, how can i avoid using nested statements and also keep my scripts more organized for future reference.

Script Example:

	while task.wait(0.1) do
		if Build1 then
			for i, part in pairs(Build1:GetChildren()) do
				if part:isA("BasePart") and part.Name ~= "WeldPart" then
					if partsOption1 and weldOption1 then
						for i, number in pairs(partsOption1) do
							local part2 = partsOption1[i]
							if part2.Name == part.Name then
								local distance = (part2.Parent.PrimaryPart.Position - part.Position).Magnitude
								print(distance)
								if distance < 5 and part.Name == part.Name then
									part.Transparency = 0
									part.CanCollide = true
									part2:Destroy()
									table.remove(partsOption1, i)
									weldOption1:Destroy()
									weldOption1 = nil
									if #PartStoreOption1 == 0 then
										MovingTruckProp:Destroy()
										CurrentlyBuild = false
										Constructing = false
										ToolValue = 0
										weldOption1 = nil
										MovingTruckProp = nil
										break
									else
										print("still good")
									end
								end
							else
								print(part2.Name, part.Name)
							end
						end
					end
				end
			end
		end
	end
end

[Ethanaut]

Hello!

From my experience, this stuff is dependent on the problem you’re solving. This structure might be completely necessary for the problem you are solving.

For me, I deal with a lot of loading and unloading instances, and I just use replicated storage because it lets me straight up copy things without having to send and receive and whatever its data, its just right there for me. (otherwise everything I have built would be a massive disaster).

This does not look that bad to me, it looks like there could be another way to approach this with less checks but again, I don’t have the same knowledge as you do about the problem you are attacking…

Practice makes better, and I think practising this problem could make this situation better? By the way, I do not mean you haven’t spent enough time on this. I have been in this exact place after spending hours on a problem.

Hopefully this helps!

[WindyTundra]

Practicing is probably the right thing to do, any other tips you have?

[SeargentAUS (Seargent)]

If you want to stop it from requiring excessive indentations, you can try inverting the if statements, and containing continue within them instead

e.g.

for i = 1, 10 do
    if i > 3 then
        print(i)
    end
end

could be changed to

for i = 1, 10 do
    if i <= 3 then 
        continue 
    end
    print(i)
end

The effect of this is more significant when you have lots of chained if statements, but you get the point.

You could also have it all on one line:

if i <= 3 then continue end 

[Youtub5005 (Boss)]

One thing I would recommend is to convert your nested if-statements into simple return conditions:

For example, heres a bunch of nested if-conditions

if condition1 then
	if condition2 then
		if condition3 then
			if condition4 then
				if condition5 then
					if condition6 then
						--Do some stuff yes
					end
				end
			end
		end
	end
end

This can keep going and nesting into more layers the more conditions you check, which slowly becomes unreadable and hard to follow. Instead, what we can do is turn each condition check into a return check (or continue check if you are checking this logic inside of a for loop):

if not condition1 then
	return
end
if not condition2 then
	return
end
if not condition3 then
	return
end
if not condition4 then
	return
end
if not condition5 then
	return
end
if not condition6 then
	return
end
--Do some stuff yes

Now we pretty much stay on the same layer while being much more tidy and neater while also still checking those conditions.

This video is pretty much where I learned the Idea, and it has some other neat tips to help organize your if-statements and nesting

Why You Shouldn't Nest Your Code

[kexy123]

That is an excessive amount of nested scopes. Usually, I try to keep my indentations at most 3 long. (From a YouTube video. (Will not post in here since somebody already did.))

You can do the following:

• Placing most of your code in functions
• Try not to nest everything inside if statements

Either way, this is your code without nested if statements.

while task.wait(0.1) do
	if not Build1 then continue end
	for i, part in pairs(Build1:GetChildren()) do
		if not part:isA("BasePart") or part.Name == "WeldPart" then continue end
		if not (partsOption1 and weldOption1) then continue end
		for i, number in pairs(partsOption1) do
			local part2 = partsOption1[i]
			if part2.Name ~= part.Name then print(part2.Name, part.Name) continue end
			local distance = (part2.Parent.PrimaryPart.Position - part.Position).Magnitude
			print(distance)
			if distance >= 5 or part.Name ~= part.Name then continue end -- Wait, why is that here?
			part.Transparency = 0
			part.CanCollide = true
			part2:Destroy()
			table.remove(partsOption1, i)
			weldOption1:Destroy()
			weldOption1 = nil
			if #PartStoreOption1 ~= 0 then print("still good") continue end
			MovingTruckProp:Destroy()
			CurrentlyBuild = false
			Constructing = false
			ToolValue = 0
			weldOption1 = nil
			MovingTruckProp = nil
			break
		end
	end
end