For the sake of clarity, variables should be declared as close to where they’re used as possible. This is particularly true when considering
methods that contain early returns and the potential to throw exceptions. In these cases, it is not only pointless, but also confusing to declare a
variable that may never be used because conditions for an early return are met first.
Noncompliant code example
public boolean isConditionMet(int a, int b) {
int difference = a - b;
MyClass foo = new MyClass(a); // Noncompliant; not used before early return
if (difference < 0) {
return false;
}
// ...
if (foo.doTheThing()) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
Compliant solution
public boolean isConditionMet(int a, int b) {
int difference = a - b;
if (difference < 0) {
return false;
}
// ...
MyClass foo = new MyClass(a);
if (foo.doTheThing()) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
