Question

If i have a simple chunk of code like:

public void tracePath(){
   int steps = 0;
   steps = bfs();       
   if(steps==0){
      pathFound(false);
      System.exit(0);
   }else{
      System.out.println(steps);
      pathFound(true);
      System.exit(0);
   }
}

AFAIK this could be rewriten without the else as

public void tracePath(){
   int steps = 0;
   steps = bfs();       
   if(steps==0){
      pathFound(false);
      System.exit(0);
   }
   System.out.println(steps);
   pathFound(true);
   System.exit(0);
}

Is there a performance (or other logical) reason so keep (or lose) the else? or is it just (in this example) stylistic choice?

Answer 1

In this case it is stylistic preference because you exit at the end of the if statement. If you did not have a system.exit(0) at the end of the if, in the second example you would execute both pieces of code.