A good answer might be:

Any function that returns any type of value can be used in a boolean expression, so side-effects are a concern.

Danger with any Method

For example, say that a method computeMaximum() computes the maximum value of some variables, stores the result in maximum and returns that value:

int maximum;

. . .

if ( sum < 100 && computeMaximum() < 500 ) 

. . .

result = 2 * maximum ;   // maximum might not have been computed.

There is a problem here because the second method has a side effect (setting maximum) that will not happen when sum is 100 or more. In this case you should arrange the expression like this:

int maximum;

. . .

if ( computeMaximum() < 500 && sum < 100 ) 

. . .

result = 2 * maximum ;   // maximum will be computed.

With this arrangement the side effect will always happen. The two if statements look almost identical; however, the first one is a bug. Bugs like this can be hard to find.

An even better solution is to write computeMaximum() so that is has no side effect, and both arrangements of the booleans expression will work.

QUESTION 4:

Would it be useful to have a non-short-circuit AND operator?

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