CODEWITHSUNDEEP
performancelanguage-agnosticcoding-style
nickytonline
nickytonline

Reputation: 6981

Performance/Style Question About Returning from a Method/Function

I found some code like this in a project I'm working on

public SqlDataReader SomeMethod(int someParam)
{
      // ... some code goes here
      SqlDataReader dataReader = m_command.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection);
      return dataReader;
}

I was wondering what is better, the original or below

public SqlDataReader SomeMethod(int someParam)
{
      // ... some code goes here
      return  m_command.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection);
}

Is there any advantage to creating the variable and then returning it as opposed to just returning the created reader? I would think no as it's just a reference. The example I give was what I found but it could be any variable type. One thing I can think of is during debugging, it's probably nice to look at what's in the variable.

Anybody like to contribute their 2 cents?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 113

Answers (2)

moinudin
moinudin

Reputation: 138357

Any half-decent compiler will optimise the first example such that dataReader doesn't need to be stored in a temporary variable. In other words, both examples should have the exact same efficiencies.

Personally, I prefer the second (shorter) example as splitting that line over two lines doesn't simplify reading at all.

Upvotes: 1

Michael Myers
Michael Myers

Reputation: 191925

Debugging is probably the best reason. With the first way, it's easier to e.g. check if dataReader is null before returning it.

There really shouldn't be a performance difference, as you said. If this method is invoked often, the JIT compiler (if enabled) is very likely to optimize the local variable away.

Upvotes: 2

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