if statements are pretty simple

if $command; then <thing> else <thing> fi

You may be complaining about the syntax for the test command specifically or bash’s [[ builtin

Also the choice of quotes changing behavior is a thing in:

1. JavaScript/typescript 2. Python 3. C/C++ 4. Rust

In some cases it’s the same difference, eg: string interpolation in JavaScript with backticks

> Also the choice of quotes changing behavior is a thing in:

In those languages they change what's contained in the string. Not how many strings you get. Or what the strings from that string look like. ($@ being an extreme example)