Question

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else or return?

Consider a typical recursive function:

public int Fact(n) 
{
    if (n < 2)
    {
        return 1;
    }
    else
    {
        return n * Fact(n-1);
    }
}

What is there a difference between writing it that way and this way?:

public int Fact(n) 
{
    if (n < 2)
    {
        return 1;
    }

    return n * Fact(n-1);
}

I prefer latter, specially when the recursive step consists of many lines of code. I don’t want to add unnecessary indentation.

Is there a practical difference or is this just a stylistic preference?

Answer 1

It’s just a matter of style. Usually I do not use else blocks when the end of the then block returns.