CODEWITHSUNDEEP
rubyfunctionreturn-value
stanigator
stanigator

Reputation: 10944

Good practice to explicitly return the values of the function?

Would you prefer this:

def add(a, b)
  puts "ADDING #{a} + #{b}"
  return a + b
end

over this?

def add(a, b)
  puts "ADDING #{a} + #{b}"
  a + b
end

Upvotes: 3

Views: 438

Answers (5)

maček
maček

Reputation: 77816

It's The Ruby Way™ to not include the return statement unless it's absolutely required.

I'm sure there's better examples, but here's a simple one.

def divide a, b
    return false if b == 0
    a/b
end

It's worth noting that Ruby provides means to optionally ignore a lot of syntax. () are optional unless you're nesting them. {} can be omitted in many cases too.

func(5, 5, {:hello => 'world'})
# is the same as
func 5, 5, hello: 'world'

You'll learn a lot more shortcuts as you go.

Upvotes: 4

user1388632
user1388632

Reputation: 11

take a look at this: http://www.robertsosinski.com/2008/12/21/understanding-ruby-blocks-procs-and-lambdas/

it explains how return works on procs, lambdas and blocks.

Upvotes: 1

Tyler DeWitt
Tyler DeWitt

Reputation: 23576

The Style Guide says to omit the explicit return

Avoid return where not required.

# bad
def some_method(some_arr)
  return some_arr.size
end

# good
def some_method(some_arr)
  some_arr.size
end

Upvotes: 2

Christopher Oezbek
Christopher Oezbek

Reputation: 26483

Pros for return a + b:

  • readability
  • less error prone

Cons:

  • verbose

Upvotes: 0

ksol
ksol

Reputation: 12265

It all depends on the context. Usually, it is not necessary to put it explicitly: rubyists knows that the last expression is the returned one. However, on some rare occasions, the last expression is not easy to grasp, as in an interation or some obscure structure, so it might be good to put it. But usually, no not necessary.

EDIT:

And obviously, when you're trying to return an expression that is not the last of your method, you have to use return. As you would do with lazy-loaded accessors

Upvotes: 0

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