[ajanuary]

I normally see a form of it from people that don't like early returns. But if you try to do that with code that explicitly passes pack errors, you end up having to twist the code to avoid early returns. I guess this form pushes all the returns into a list at the bottom, which makes them more comfortable?

[MetaCosm]

People don't like early returns because sometimes they return before some basic cleanup / must have function component is run. Normally added by someone unfamiliar with the function accidentally. Go's defer statement makes this much less of an issue, you bind your work piece with your defer piece so that early returns are fine.

[btilly]

Historically some people were against early returns, loop flow control, and the like as part of structured programming's overreaction to the widespread unstructured use of goto for flow of control. They wanted every body of code, be it a function or a loop, to have one entry point and one exit point.

Over time programmers have learned that one entry point, multiple exit points, is OK. But I feel that it is a good habit to flag that with a comment in capital letters so that someone skimming the code can't miss it.