Unnecessary 'else' statement [duplicate]

Answer 1

I know that without the IDE checking this for me I nearly always use the unnecessary else statement. Often I find it reads better initially with it, but usually remove it when it is pointed out as I can see the fact that it is unnecessary and it then bugs me...

Answer 2

Generally I would prefer the structure of the code to follow the structure of the underlying "business" logic. In this case, my approach would depend what condition represents. If it is an error check, for example, which won't normally be hit but might occasionally be used, then the asymmetry of the second form matches the asymmetry of the logic.

doLotOfStuff();
if (condition) { 
    return foo; 
} 
return bar; 

But if either possibility is reasonable and it's simply a choice between them, I would allow the structure of the code to show that symmetry.

doLotOfStuff();
if (condition) { 
    return foo; 
} else {
    return bar; 
}

The code is there for the programmer to read, not the compiler.

Answer 3

Well, I think that using multiple return is not readable.

I prefer code as:

String result = null;

doLotOfStuff();
if (condition) { 
    result = foo; 
} else {
    result = bar; 
}

return result;

Multiple returns is complicated to understand. But in your case I will prefer the postCheck

doLotOfStuff();
if (condition) { 
    return foo; 
} else {
    return bar; 
}

Answer 4

Well, some well-known Java experts argue that one should always strife to minimize the scope of things and that's also my opinion.

My teachers at university always tormented me that I must write stuff like this as posted by somebody before:

String result = null;
doLotOfStuff();
if (condition) {
    result = foo;
} else {
    result = bar;
}
return result;

The variable result has now a pretty big scope. In addition with a lot of nesting this tends to get very unreadable if you do a little bit more here, say you have another for-loop.

I think this is much better:

doLotOfStuff();
return condition ? foo : bar;

This is straight to the point. I see immediately what's going on, no checking of curly braces.

I think it's very good to

• Minimize scope
• Minimize indention (that is avoid curly braces)
• Minimize method length

The "Unnecessary else statement" warning helps with that.