trjhtr

Is there a more graceful way to structure the code below?

The fingerPosition values are increments of 1.

The fingerMask values start at 1, then 2 and then increment in multiples of 2.

 private int getFingerMask(int fingerPosition)
 
 int fingerMask = 0;

 if (fingerPosition == 0)
 
 fingerMask = 1;
 
 else if (fingerPosition == 1)
 
 fingerMask = 2;
 
 else if (fingerPosition == 2)
 
 fingerMask = 4;
 
 else if (fingerPosition == 3)
 
 fingerMask = 8;
 
 else if (fingerPosition == 4)
 
 fingerMask = 16;
 
 else if (fingerPosition == 5)
 
 fingerMask = 32;
 
 else if (fingerPosition == 6)
 
 fingerMask = 64;
 
 else if (fingerPosition == 7)
 
 fingerMask = 128;
 
 else if (fingerPosition == 8)
 
 fingerMask = 256;
 
 else if (fingerPosition == 9)
 
 fingerMask = 512;
 

 return fingerMask;
 

Yes, this can be done simply by using a power of 2.

private int getFingerMask(int fingerPosition)

 if (fingerPosition >= 0 && fingerPosition < 10)
 
 return (int)Math.Pow(2, fingerPosition);
 
 else
 
 return 0;
 

In addition to @Aaron's answer, you can also use bit shifting. Also Naming Guidelines would expect the method to begin with a capital letter. This could also be reduced to a one-line method:

private int GetFingerMask(int fingerPosition) => (fingerPosition >= 0 && fingerPosition < 10) ? 1 << fingerPosition : 0;

These magic numbers are very magical. These feel like they should be enums:

// Perhaps there are better names for these positions? Thumb, Forefinger, etc.?
public enum FingerPosition

 Zero = 0,
 One,
 Two,
 Three,
 Four,
 Five,
 Six,
 Seven,
 Eight,
 Nine


// Again, better naming would be in order.
[Flags]
public enum FingerMask

 Unknown = 0,
 Zero = 1,
 One = 2,
 Two = 4,
 Three = 8,
 Four = 16,
 Five = 32,
 Six = 64,
 Seven = 128,
 Eight = 256,
 Nine = 512

Then something like a Dictionary to associate them as such:

private static readonly IDictionary<FingerPosition, FingerMask> _FingerMap = new Dictionary<FingerPosition, FingerMask>

 [FingerPosition.Zero] = FingerMask.Zero,
 [FingerPosition.One] = FingerMask.One,
 [FingerPosition.Two] = FingerMask.Two,
 [FingerPosition.Three] = FingerMask.Three,
 [FingerPosition.Four] = FingerMask.Four,
 [FingerPosition.Five] = FingerMask.Five,
 [FingerPosition.Six] = FingerMask.Six,
 [FingerPosition.Seven] = FingerMask.Seven,
 [FingerPosition.Eight] = FingerMask.Eight,
 [FingerPosition.Nine] = FingerMask.Nine,
;

Your code then becomes type-safe in this manner:

private FingerMask getFingerMask(FingerPosition fingerPosition)

 FingerMask fingerMask;

 if (_FingerMap.TryGetValue(fingerPosition, out fingerMask))
 
 return fingerMask;
 

 return FingerMask.Unknown;

You can then cast that result to int if you really need it somewhere else as that.