diff --git a/src/pipe.cpp b/src/pipe.cpp
index c37cf903..346d6468 100644
--- a/src/pipe.cpp
+++ b/src/pipe.cpp
@@ -520,8 +520,8 @@ void zmq::pipe_t::hiccup ()
 
 void zmq::pipe_t::set_hwms (int inhwm_, int outhwm_)
 {
-    int in = inhwm_ + (_in_hwm_boost > 0 ? _in_hwm_boost : 0);
-    int out = outhwm_ + (_out_hwm_boost > 0 ? _out_hwm_boost : 0);
+    int in = inhwm_ + std::max (_in_hwm_boost, 0);
+    int out = outhwm_ + std::max (_out_hwm_boost, 0);
 
     // if either send or recv side has hwm <= 0 it means infinite so we should set hwms infinite
     if (inhwm_ <= 0 || _in_hwm_boost == 0)
diff --git a/src/stream_engine.cpp b/src/stream_engine.cpp
index 6394e54c..f29bdd19 100644
--- a/src/stream_engine.cpp
+++ b/src/stream_engine.cpp
@@ -1158,9 +1158,7 @@ int zmq::stream_engine_t::process_heartbeat_message (msg_t *msg_)
         //  Given the engine goes straight to out_event, sequential PINGs will
         //  not be a problem.
         const size_t context_len =
-          msg_->size () - ping_ttl_len > ping_max_ctx_len
-            ? ping_max_ctx_len
-            : msg_->size () - ping_ttl_len;
+          std::min (msg_->size () - ping_ttl_len, ping_max_ctx_len);
         const int rc =
           _pong_msg.init_size (msg_t::ping_cmd_name_size + context_len);
         errno_assert (rc == 0);
diff --git a/src/timers.cpp b/src/timers.cpp
index eb792ec7..74c1b716 100644
--- a/src/timers.cpp
+++ b/src/timers.cpp
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ long zmq::timers_t::timeout ()
     for (; it != end; ++it) {
         if (0 == _cancelled_timers.erase (it->second.timer_id)) {
             //  Live timer, lets return the timeout
-            res = it->first > now ? static_cast<long> (it->first - now) : 0;
+            res = std::max (static_cast<long> (it->first - now), 0l);
             break;
         }
     }