Make Your Code Simpler: Using If Statements Without Else

Alan Constantino
4 min readOct 15, 2024
Which are you?

Think about how your code could be cleaner, easier to understand, and easier to update just by changing how you use if statements. This small change—leaving out the else—can make a big difference in how easy your code is to read and work with.

Today’s post was brought to you by the book Clean Code by Robert C. Martin (affiliate link).

Do You Really Need Else Statements?

When writing code, many developers think they have to add an else every time they use an if statement to handle other possible outcomes. But the truth is, you don’t always need an else. Often, getting rid of the else can make your code simpler and easier to understand.

Old If-Else Style

def process_order(order):
if order.is_valid:
order.process()
else:
notify_user("Invalid order.")

Improved with Just If

def process_order(order):
if not order.is_valid:
notify_user("Invalid order.")
return
order.process()

Why does this matter? By handling the problem case first and ending the function early, you make the main part of the code stand out and reduce unnecessary nesting.

Making Code Easier…

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