How exit from the method

Note that I was trying to be supportive of John but I personally consider a return statement within a function to be good. I think it is much better than making a huge complex of if statements. Instead of a complicated set of if statements, I think it is better to make a function; that can be much simpler when return statements are used when needed.

So let me emphasize what I am saying. I think that if a complicated piece of logic is used to avoid using multiple return statements, then I think it is better to use multiple return statements.

I agree with you guys too. I'm always insisting that all methods must have the following structure:

type method(args)
{
       
        // In public/protected/internal methods verify arguments
        // and throw argument related exceptions;
        // in private methods do not spend resources to check this and do not throw exceptions

        // Declare return variable

        // Perform task and keep return variable up to date so that it contains result

        // Return result if method returns non-void
        
}

I use similar structure in stored procedures as well.

This structure is very resistant to later changes in code and bugs are rare compared to arbitrary method structure and especially when compared to methods which return value from the middle.

Zoran

Whetehr John realizes it or not, his single-exit philosophy is a large part of Structured Programming, at least in the classical definition. Structured Programming is partially the result of the campaign against GoTos and Structured Programming is a part of what resulted in Object-oriented Programming. I think most developers do not comply with the theory of allowing only one exit point but the theory definitely has substantial support.

Note that there is no difference between Zoran's and Roy's answer; I sure think that Zoran deserves the credit. My guess is that the two posts were made essentially in parrallel, which is very possible. Otherwise if it were me instead of Roy, I would have said that Zoran's reply is an answer before offering an alternative.

IMHO it's better to have only one return at the end of the method if a value is being returned, and no return if the method is returning void.  You can restructure your if's so that if one of them evaluates to false the flow will go down to the end of the method.  Multiple returns can make code more complex and hard for others to follow.

Maybe I'm old-school but that's just my personal preference.

if (condition)
        return;

This is good for methods returning void. Otherwise do return using some value which indicates the particular condition to the caller.

Zoran