What is the benefit of terminating if … else if constructs with an else clause?

Question

Our organization has a required coding rule (without any explanation) that:

if … else if constructs should be terminated with an el

Answer 1

Logically any test implies two branches. What do you do if it is true, and what do you do if it is false.

For those cases where either branch has no functionality, it is reasonable to add a comment about why it doesn't need to have functionality.

This may be of benefit for the next maintenance programmer to come along. They should not have to search too far to decide if the code is correct. You can kind of Prehunt the Elephant.

Personally, it helps me as it forces me to look at the else case, and evaluate it. It may be an impossible condition, in which case i may throw an exception as the contract is violated. It may be benign, in which case a comment may be enough.

Your mileage may vary.