With if you can also indicate "it's one of these things" by throwing an error at the end: if (cellA > cellB) return 1; if (cellA < cellB) return -1;

With if you can also indicate "it's one of these things" by throwing an error at the end: if (cellA > cellB) return 1; if (cellA < cellB) return -1; if (cellA === cellB) return 0; throw new Error();