Damocles, I learned that method when learning java, it's more of a convention and I think it makes code much more readable than having an if statement when only checking if the entity's valid and a skill is set.
So I must disagree, I think the method should be used in every coding language that allows it to be used. Sadly LiteC is not one of them, as mentioned above...

I absolutely hate having to use this:
if(entity != NULL)
{
if(entity.skill1 == 1)
{
//yuck.
}
}