Why should conditions that are more likely to be evaluated be placed to the left of the logical OR operator?

Conditions that are more likely to be evaluated should be placed to the left of the logical OR operator (||) to optimize performance and improve efficiency. This is because of short-circuit evaluation.

Short-Circuit Evaluation:

In logical expressions, when using the OR operator, if the left condition evaluates to true, the right condition is not evaluated because the overall expression is already determined to be true. This can save time and resources, especially if the right condition involves complex calculations or function calls.

Example:

if (likelyCondition() || expensiveFunction()) {
    // Execute code
}

In this example, if likelyCondition() returns true, expensiveFunction() will not be called, thus avoiding unnecessary computation.

Conclusion:

By placing the more likely condition on the left, you can reduce the number of evaluations and improve the efficiency of your code.