How To Write Cleaner Conditioners With Guard Clause

We've all learnt the if/else statements at some point as it is one of the first concepts we learn as new developers.

Why You Should Avoid the If/Else Statement

When writing complex if/else statements things can get messy and what may start off as one set of conditions managed by an if/else block can easily become difficult to manage and compromise the readability of a program when more and more conditions are added

Let's see an example of a complex if/else statement

function getPayAmount(){
   let result;
  if (isDead){
     result = deadAmount();
   }
 else {
  if (isSeparated){
   result = separatedAmount();
else {
  if(isRetired){
    result = retiredAmount();
   else
      result = normalPayAmount();
}
}
  return result;
}

Messy right?

Shows how complex if/else statements can easily become difficult to manage and also compromise the readability of a program

Guard Clauses

• Instead of writing if else statements, you can use guard clauses to signal an exit for cases when a block of code should not be executed.

• using Guard Clause can reduce the number of lines in your functions, classes and so on..

• Guard Clause makes the code easier to read

Let's see an example of Guard Clause:

Below is a refractored code of the example above;

   function getPayAmount(){
   if (isDead) return deadAmount();
   if(isSeparated) return separatedAmount();
   if (isRetired) return retiredAmount();
   return normalPaymentAmount();
}

We have refractored our if/else statements using Guard Clause and one of the first thing you would notice is that the number of lines of code reduced from 17 to 9

Plus the readability of our program should not be an issue now

Conclusion

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