Exit Early

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Exit Early

Discourage:
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if () {
2
  ...
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  return false;
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} else {
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  ...
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  return true;
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}
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Encourage:
1
if () {
2
  ...
3
  return false;
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}
5
​
6
...
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​
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return true;
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Reasons to exit early:
Process of elimination
Reduces cognitive load
Reduces indents
We know success will always be at the end
Structures your functions:
Validation/error handling at the beginning
Successful at the end
Resources
​https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16678209​
​https://www.itamarweiss.com/personal/2018/02/28/return-early-pattern.html​
​https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/18454/should-i-return-from-a-function-early-or-use-an-if-statement​
​https://blog.timoxley.com/post/47041269194/avoid-else-return-early​
Arguments against:
single exit point
​https://www.tomdalling.com/blog/coding-tips/coding-tip-have-a-single-exit-point/​

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Be careful of enum in switch statements

Last modified 2yr ago

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