FWIW modern C compilers recommend double-bracing exactly for that reason e.g. in clang, by default, it triggers:
test.c:3:17: warning: using the result of an assignment as a condition without parentheses [-Wparentheses]
if (statement = ref) {
~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~
test.c:3:17: note: place parentheses around the assignment to silence this warning
if (statement = ref) {
^
( )
test.c:3:17: note: use '==' to turn this assignment into an equality comparison
if (statement = ref) {
^
==
if (statement = ref) { print(statement) } else { print('have you done everything right?') }
was I wrong to be confused as to what he might have intended with statement = ref? Because he was in fact using the language functionalities to express what he wanted. I just thought it looked confusing and misleading.