Looks like I can't edit, so I'll create another comment. I ran into this article that puts quite nicely why the problem isn't the "else", but the "if" itself:

Looks like I can't edit, so I'll create another comment. I ran into this article that puts quite nicely why the problem isn't the "else", but the "if" itself: https://medium.com/@bartobri/applying-the-linus-tarvolds-good-taste-coding-requirement-99749f37684a#.pji8wp94m https://medium.com/@bartobri/applying-the-linus-tarvolds-goo... This is what I meant in the other comment by preferring the non-branching.