[keir-rex]

Grammar police warning: The comma in “if it doesn’t crash, the bug is present” actually makes the intention more difficult to understand.

[kazinator]

The comma placement "if clause1, clause2" is extremely common. In the above sentence, there is no other place it can go, other than nowhere at all.

"if, it doesn't crash ..." nope

"if it, doesn't ..." nope

"if it doesn't, crash ... " nope

"if it doesn't crash, the " yep!

"if it doesn't crash the, bug ..." nope

"if it doesn't crash the bug, is ..." nope

"if it doesn't crash the bug is, present" nope.

When it is present, it does help to separate the if and then, particularly in the absence of the word "then".

Without the comma, the prefix "if it doesn't crash the bug" can be scanned as a viable clause, only to find that the suffix becomes a fragment.

[sova]

You brute-forced comma placement. I tip, to you, my hat.

[ralphie02]

Thank you for this and everyone who has downvoted an incorrect and misleading statement

[CiPHPerCoder]

"If x, y" is a shorthand for "If x then y" in spoken language.

[caseymarquis]

That's the grammatically correct place to put the comma. Fairly sure you're actually grammatically required to have a comma there.

[johnday]

How?