Recently I've bumped into the following C++ code: if (a) { f(); } else if (b) { f(); } else if (c) { f(); } Where a, b and c are all different conditions, and they are not very short. I tried to change the code to: if (a || b || c) { f(); } But the author opposed saying that my change will decrease readability of the code. I had two arguments: 1) You should not increase readability by replacing one branching statement with three (though I really doubt that it's possible to make code more readable by using else if instead of ||). 2) It's not the fastest code, and no compiler will optimize this. But my arguments did not convince him. What would you tell a programmer writing such a code? Do you think complex condition is an excuse for using else if instead of OR?