Shortening my questions code

Question

Is there any other way to shorten this code without sacrificing readability? I am fairly new to C#, let alone programming, and I wanted to know if this is as short as this code can possibly become. Feedback would be greatly welcomed.

Side note: was Questions.Questask used properly here, or could there have been a better way?

 class Program
 {
 static void Main(string[] args)
 {
 string name = "";
 while (name.ToLower() != "none")
 {
 Console.WriteLine("Are you Kydd,Leo,Jay,Sha, or Zigg");
 name = Console.ReadLine();
 if (name.ToLower() == "kydd")
 Question.Questask("Input question here", "Kquestion","Link");
 else if (name.ToLower() == "leo")
 Question.Questask("Input question here", "Lquestion", "Link");
 else if (name.ToLower() == "jay")
 Question.Questask("Input question here", "Jquestion", "Link");
 else if (name.ToLower() == "sha")
 Question.Questask("Input question here", "Squestion", "Link");
 if (name.ToLower() == "zigg")
 Question.Questask("Input question here", "Zquestion", "Link");
 }
 }
 class Question
 {
 public static void Questask(string question, string questAnswer, string url)
 {
 Console.WriteLine(question);
 questAnswer = Console.ReadLine();
 if (questAnswer.ToLower() == "yes")
 {
 Console.WriteLine("You are right!");
 Console.ReadKey();
 }
 else
 {
 System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(url);
 }
 }
 }
}

• Robert Harvey: Stick the result of ToLower() into a new variable. You'll only have to call ToLower() once that way.
• Robert Harvey: For any non-trivial application, the questions and names would be stored in some sort of data repository like an XML file or database, not emblazoned into the actual code itself.
• NoChance: You could place "Input Question Here" in a string instead of repeating it many times. Also, do you really want a Console.ReadKey() at the class code?

Answer 1

I rewrote this for you, making it easier to understand and making it a little more efficient (although, the size is just a tad bigger then your original). Hopefully it makes a little more sense and you can ask any questions if you need to:

class Program
{
 static void Main(string[] args)
 {
 var names = new List<NameClass>
 {
 new NameClass {Name = "Kydd", Answer = "Kquestion"},
 new NameClass {Name = "Leo", Answer = "Lquestion"},
 new NameClass {Name = "Jay", Answer = "Jquestion"},
 new NameClass {Name = "Sha", Answer = "Squestion"},
 new NameClass {Name = "Zigg", Answer = "Zquestion"}
 };
 string name = "";
 while (name.ToLower() != "none")
 {
 Console.WriteLine("Are you Kydd,Leo,Jay,Sha, or Zigg");
 name = Console.ReadLine().ToLower();
 var a = names.FirstOrDefault(z => z.Name.ToLower() == name);
 if (a != null)
 {
 Questask(a.Question, a.Answer, a.Url);
 }
 }
 }
 private static void Questask(string question, string questAnswer, string url)
 {
 Console.WriteLine(question);
 questAnswer = Console.ReadLine();
 if (questAnswer.ToLower() == "yes")
 {
 Console.WriteLine("You are right!");
 Console.ReadKey();
 }
 else
 {
 System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(url);
 }
 }
 public class NameClass
 {
 public string Name { get; set; }
 public string Question { get; set; }
 public string Answer { get; set; }
 public string Url { get; set; }
 public NameClass()
 {
 Question = "Input question here";
 Url = "Link";
 }
 }
}

The beauty of this code is that you don't need a bunch of if statements. If you need to add more, simply add one more line of code in the names definition.

• svick: It would be helpful if you explained what exactly did you change.
• Neil HeRnandez: Thank you for this Beauty of a Code It will help me better understand the use of classes which I still struggle with. Just one Question What exactly does names.FirstOrDefault(z => z.Name.ToLower() == name) line of do kinda stumped on it
• jmoreno: It's a LINQ expression that returns the first NameClass in the list names that has a Name.ToLower that equals name or a default value (null).

Answer 2

When I need a simple strategy pattern I'll use a Dictionary. This can drastically reduce code by cutting repetition.

Note the use of StringComparer.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase for comparer to do away with the String.ToLower calls.

private static readonly IDictionary<string, Tuple<string, string>> NamesDictionary =
 new Dictionary<string, Tuple<string, string>>(StringComparer.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)
 {
 { "kydd", Tuple.Create("question 1", "link1") },
 { "zydd", Tuple.Create("question 2", "link2") },
 ...
 };
private static void DoSomething(string name)
{
 Tuple<string, string> questionAndLinkTuple;
 if (!NamesDictionary.TryGetValue(name, out questionAndLinkTuple))
 return;
 var question = questionAndLinkTuple.Item1;
 var link = questionAndLinkTuple.Item2;
 Question.AskQuestion("Input answer here", question, link);
}

• Mathieu Guindon: +1 for being the only answer that renames Questask to AskQuestion :) Actually since the class is Question and the method is static, a perhaps even better name would be simply Ask()...
• ta.speot.is: @retailcoder I didn't bother with it in my answer, but a more complex example I could understand the need for a Question class. OP's example would have been just fine without Question and instead have a static Program.AskQuestion.

Answer 3

I like icemanind's answer, but to give an alternate point of view -- sometimes you just need to get it done.

string[] names = {"kydd","leo","jay","sha","zigg");
if (Array.IndexOf(names, name.ToLower())>-1){
 Question.Questask("Input question here", 
 string.Format("{0}question",name[0].ToUpper()),"Link");
}