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POC++: Empty if statement
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copied!<p>This is more of an entry level question, but I'm wondering if it's good practice to have an empty if statement.</p> <p>Consider this code:</p> <pre><code>void RabbitList::purge() { if(head == NULL) { //cout << "Can't purge an empty colony!" << endl; } else { //Kill half the colony for(int amountToKill = (getColonySize()) / 2; amountToKill != 0;) { RabbitNode * curr = head; RabbitNode * trail = NULL; bool fiftyFiftyChance = randomGeneration(2); //If the random check succeeded but we're still on the head node if(fiftyFiftyChance == 1 && curr == head) { head = curr->next; delete curr; --size; --amountToKill; } //If the random check succeeded and we're beyond the head, but not on last node else if(fiftyFiftyChance == 1 && curr->next != NULL) { trail->next = curr->next; delete curr; --size; --amountToKill; } //If the random check succeeded, but we're on the last node else if(fiftyFiftyChance == 1) { trail->next = NULL; delete curr; --size; --amountToKill; } //If the random check failed else { trail = curr; curr = curr->next; } } cout << "Food shortage! Colony has been purged by half." << endl; } } </code></pre> <p>As you can see, the if statement on line 5 is currently commented out; this was more of a debug text and I don't want to send any feedback to the console anymore. I'm pretty sure it would be considered bad practice to have the if statement do nothing. I know I could have return;</p> <p>but since my return type is void it gives me an error. What if my return type is not void for example?</p>

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