Should 'if' statement always have an 'else' clause?

coding-style

Solution

Seems like useless typing to me... and a possible cause for confusion. If you don't need it, don't put it!

Problem

This may be a religious argument, but it has been debated ad-nauseum here at my work whether all IF statements should include an ELSE clause - even if the ELSE clause only contains a comment stating that it was 'intentionally left blank'. I have heard arguments for both sides: The 'For' camp - ensures that the code has actually addressed whether the condition requires an ELSE clause The 'Against' camp - code is harder to read, adds too much noise I am interested in any other points of view as I have to resolve this debate with an answer that would satisfy both parties.

Original source

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