tobiah wrote:
> def foo(thing):
> if thing:
> return thing + 1
> else:
> return -1
>
> def foo(thing):
> if thing:
> return thing + 1
> return -1
>
> Obviously both do the same thing. The first is
> possibly clearer, while the second is more concise.
I almost always go with #2. The else clause is redundant and
potentially misleading in the first one. (A casual programmer might
not notice that it always returns and so add code beneath it, or a
casual code checker might not notice that the end is unreachable, and
flag the function as both returning a value and returning the default.)
However, I have rare cases where I do choose to use the else (ususally
in the midst of a complicated piece of logic, where it's be more
distracting than concise). In that case, I'd do something like this:
def foo(thing):
if thing:
return thing+1
else:
return -1
assert False
Carl Banks
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