Is it a good practice to initialize a variable if its use depends on a decider

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

Suppose the following code where we have a structure with variables and a second structure where we have a function where we initialize the vectors

int decider1 = //userinput;
int decider2 = //userinput;
struct randomStruct
{
    std::vector foo;
    std::vector foo2;
    std::vector foo3;
};

struct randomStruct2
{ 
   randomStruct foo4;
   void setupArray();
};

Now we have a global variables where it would only be used only if the user decides so

void randomStruct2::setupArray() 
{     
      foo4.foo.resize(1);
      foo4.foo2.resize(1);
      if(decider1 && decider2)
      {
         foo4.foo.resize(1);
      }
}

I faced some crashes where another developer tried to assign the variable value just depending on lets say decider1 and it was of course an empty vector.

Now my question is from development point of view is it a good practice to just initialize the vector regardless of the user decision to avoid further crashes in the future or I apply a check at every point in other .cpp files where I should check for both the deciders before being assigned?