为什么新的mysqli对象如果确实有效则返回false？

Question

maybe you can enlighten me. Is there a good explanation why the mysqli object returns false if it did work and true if it didn't?

Code:

$connection= @new mysqli($ip, $user, $password);

if (!$connection)
{
    $connection->select_db($db);
    $connection->set_charset("utf8");
}

Why is this correct and not if ($connection)?