I subscribe to the idea that your code should state your intent as closely as possible. I question the idea that you would ever want the very linchpin of your

I subscribe to the idea that your code should state your intent as closely as possible. I question the idea that you would ever want the very linchpin of your function hidden away as a second subclause of an if statement. A function that calls callbacks is probably mainly doing that, let it stand proud and clear in the code text. If your function is calling callbacks left and right “on its way somewhere else”, I think a refactor is in order. Maybe you will now present some second scenario with something other than callbacks. Maybe in that case you’ll have me convinced it’s an okay exception. For you see, I said only it’s “pretty shaky”, not a mortal sin. With that said though, I think in 9/10 cases, it’s something you can solve with an early return. if (!callback) return; callback();