Is this method of checking long if statements optimised or can it be better written?

Help and Feedback Scripting Support
#1

My survival game necessitates a lot of server checks for certain functions, and many of my scripts repeat the same code (if statements). I’d like feedback on a my method for successfully checking multiple if statements, as well as advice on how to avoid memory leaks by using cached variables.

  1. What is the issue?
    The issue is that I am hesitant to use cached variables, which I understand is a bad practice, but I am concerned that my cached variables at the top of the script will be used in functions/events below, resulting in untracked memory because the variable is always referenced and cannot be GC-ed.
--This is an example of what my script looklike:
-- bad example 

-- function 1
if Values.Others.InGame.Value and not Values.Others.Dead.Value and Values.Controls.Camera.Value and ServerStorage.Values.Doors.LeftDoor.Value then
-- execute code
end

-- function 2 
if Values.Others.InGame.Value and not Values.Controls.Camera.Value then
-- execute different event
end

You can see there is redundant code and repetition of “Values.Others.InGame.Value”

  1. What solutions have you tried so far?
    This is how I intend to store variables/tables to help with script speed optimisation/efficiency throughout
local Checklist = {workspace.Settings.Others.InGame,workspace.Settings.Controls.Camera, ServerStorage.Values.Doors.LeftDoor}

-- function 1
if Checklist[1].Value and Checklist[2].Value and Checklist[3].Value then
-- execute code
end

-- function 2 
if Checklist[1].Value and not Checklist[2].Value then
-- execute different event
end

Is this a smart way to store the objects to avoid slow inefficient code, or is there a possible better solution that uses table.find() or something else?

Is there a way to avoid memory leaks with cached variables because they hold refernce to external varibles? That’s the main reason I’ve avoided them. However, I recently realised how useful cached variables (specifically object values) can be in improving script performance and speed.

Furthermore, if you suggest that I use the table *as shown above. Should I encapsulate this in its own scope and use do end to allow the variable to be GC-ed? Please see the code below!

-- function 1
do
local Checklist = {workspace.Settings.Others.InGame,workspace.Settings.Controls.Camera, ServerStorage.Values.Doors.LeftDoor} 
--set the checklist table reference in a seperate scope so it can be GC-ed???
     if Checklist[1].Value and Checklist[2].Value and Checklist[3].Value then
-- execute code
     end

-- function 2 
     if Checklist[1].Value and not Checklist[2].Value then
-- execute different event
     end
end
-- hopefully the Checklist table reference can be GC-ed?? 
-- and do not have to worry about memory leakage???

-- other script stuff here!

Thank you very much for your time!

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#2 
-- this is saving the valueObject into variable1 this will only have a memory leak if you destroy the valueObject and dont set variable1 to nil
local variable1 = workspace.Settings.Others.InGame

-- this is saving the valueObjects value into variable2 if the InGame.Value changes variable2 will still have the old value saved in memory
local variable2 = workspace.Settings.Others.InGame.Value

-- doing this
if Values.Others.InGame.Value == false then
    -- execute code
end
-- over doing this
if Checklist[1].Value == false then
    -- execute code
end
-- is almost identical in performance and you should not worry about what one you do

but if your asking how i would do it then i would do it like this

local function Function1()
    if workspace.Settings.Others.InGame == false then return end
    if workspace.Settings.Controls.Camera == false then return end
    if ServerStorage.Values.Doors.LeftDoor == false then return end
    -- execute code
end

so why would i do it like this the main reason is readability and its easy for me to quickly look at this code and see what i’m checking

while this is not that important because the increase in performance is very small but or can be faster then and

let me explain

when we call Function1() the first thing that will happen is

 if workspace.Settings.Others.InGame == false then return end

now if this value is false the function returns and we waste no time doing the other checks

but if you do

if workspace.Settings.Others.InGame == true and workspace.Settings.Controls.Camera == true and ServerStorage.Values.Doors.LeftDoor == true then ...

now lua has no choice but to check all 3 values before it knows if there all set to the correct value

but im pretty sure you have other things in your project that is a lot less optimal then this so dont worry about it because you could take this further by sorting the checks to make sure to check the value that is most likely to be false first and then you will never get to finish your project

3 Likes