combined use of = and ==?

[esepich]

_is_checksum_term = c == '*';

The above line has me confused. Is there some reason why this would be written this way?

bool TinyGPS::encode(char c)
{
  bool valid_sentence = false;

#ifndef _GPS_NO_STATS
  ++_encoded_characters;
#endif
  switch(c)
  {
  case ',': // term terminators
    _parity ^= c;
  case '\r':
  case '\n':
  case '*':
    if (_term_offset < sizeof(_term))
    {
      _term[_term_offset] = 0;
      valid_sentence = term_complete();
    }
    ++_term_number;
    _term_offset = 0;
    _is_checksum_term = c == '*';
    return valid_sentence;

  case '$': // sentence begin
    _term_number = _term_offset = 0;
    _parity = 0;
    _sentence_type = _GPS_SENTENCE_OTHER;
    _is_checksum_term = false;
    _gps_data_good = false;
    return valid_sentence;
  }

  // ordinary characters
  if (_term_offset < sizeof(_term) - 1)
    _term[_term_offset++] = c;
  if (!_is_checksum_term)
    _parity ^= c;

  return valid_sentence;
}

[kbw]

_is_checksum_term = (c == '*');

or

if (c == '*')
    _is_checksum_term = 1;
else
    _is_checksum_term = 0;

[esepich]

Thank you. That answers the question very well.