Should I use return/continue statement instead of if-else?

Question

In C, C++ and C# when using a condition inside a function or loop statement it\'s possible to use a continue or return statement as early as possible and g

Answer 1

Do not sacrifice readability for premature optimization.

For example:

void function() {
    if( condition ) {
        //do some stuff
    } else {
        //do other stuff
    }
}

is in most cases binary equivalent to

void function() {
    if( condition ) {
        //do some stuff
        return;
    }
    //do other stuff
}

(i.e. the resulting code is probably the same). But the readability of the former is much better, because you can clearly see that the code will to either X or Y.