So what you're saying is that this is guaranteed to work: if(ptr) ptr->action1(); if(ptr) ptr->action2(); While this might blow up: if(ptr) {

So what you're saying is that this is guaranteed to work: if(ptr) ptr->action1(); if(ptr) ptr->action2(); While this might blow up: if(ptr) { ptr->action1(); ptr->action2(); } That's the only if statement in all of C that works that way, and violates the principle of least surprise in a huge way.