There are three ways to perform conditional logic:

• If Statement - This is a regular if statement that can be used anywhere
• If Chain - This is syntactical sugar for pesky if-else chained together.
• Ternary Expression - This is a way to represent conditional logic within an expression.

The good old if statement that one may recognize from other modern programming languages:

if age >= 16 {
    echo("Welcome")
}

Let's add an else branch to the mix

if age >= 16 {
    echo("Welcome")
} else {
    echo("Entry not allowed")
}

In Amber, a simple if condition can often feel unnecessarily bulky. To address this, Amber allows the use of a : symbol to replace a full block when you only need to write a single statement. This feature is especially useful for handling multiple conditions with concise, single-statement actions.

if age >= 16: echo("Welcome")
else: echo("Entry not allowed")

// Or

if age >= 16:
    echo("Welcome")
else:
    echo("Entry not allowed")

The if-chain is a streamlined approach for handling a sequence of if-else conditions. Here’s an example to illustrate this concept:

if {
    drink == "water" {
        echo("Have a natural, mineralized water")
    }
    drink == "cola" {
        echo("Here is your fresh cola")
    }
    else {
        echo("Sorry, we have none of that")
    }
}

// Compact alternative:

if {
    drink == "water": echo("Have a natural, mineralized water")
    drink == "cola": echo("Here is your fresh cola")
    else: echo("Sorry, we have none of that")
}

Instead of using the traditional nested if-else structure:

if drink == "water" {
    echo("Have a natural, mineralized water")
} else {
    if drink == "cola" {
        echo("Here is your fresh cola")
    } else {
        echo("Sorry, we have none of that")
    }
}

The if-chain offers a cleaner, more concise, and readable way to handle multiple conditions.

Ternary expressions are ideal for quickly assigning values based on simple conditions. They provide a compact and efficient alternative to traditional conditional statements. Amber also comes with complete control-flow-aware validation and type-checking for ternary inline expressions. Here’s an example:

let candy = count > 1
    then "candies"
    else "candy"

echo("I have {count} {candy}")

To achieve an even more compact form, the ternary expression can be written inline when the expressions involved are concise.

let candy = count > 1 then "candies" else "candy"

This approach makes code concise and readable, especially for straightforward conditional assignments.