Programming preference - use else ifs with multiple return statements? [closed]

Answer 1

It depends on a lot of things like how complex your code is. With a simple example like this, I'd put the returns on the same line as the ifs, and not use elses. The structure and behaviour is clear:

public String getTemperatureMessage(double temp)
{
    if(temp < 32) return "Freezing";
    if(temp < 60) return "Brr";
    if(temp < 80) return "Comfortable";
    return "Too hot";
}

When I have more complex code I find it useful to not break out from the nesting with returns or continue/break, but to assign to state or result variables. I will then also include {} even if the block is a single statement, mostly to keep the consistency in how the structure is represented in code, but also to slightly reduce the risk that later edits will forget to change a statement to a block.

If this example was more complex, I'd probably code it like this:

public String getTemperatureMessage(double temp) {
    String result;
    if(temp < 32) {
        result = "Freezing";
    } else {
        if(temp < 60) {
            result = "Brr";
        } else {
            if(temp < 80) {
                result = "Comfortable";
            } else {
                result = "Too hot";
            }
        }
    }
    return result;
}