Different ways to return in Ruby

gistfile1.rb

# Return statements are useless in snippets below, but they can help readability (highlight "end cases" of recursion)
# Order of preference : 3, 2/1, 4

# 1) Extra returns make it more obvious what is happening. Maybe a bit verbose
def decompose(n)
  if n == 0
    return []
  elsif n == 1
    return [1]
  else
    return [n + n-1 + n-1 + n-2] + decompose(n-2)
  end
end

# 2) Not bad
def decompose(n)
  if n == 0
    []
  elsif n == 1
    [1]
  else
    [n + n-1 + n-1 + n-2] + decompose(n-2)
  end
end

# 3) Nice
def decompose(n)
  return [] if n == 0
  return [1] if n == 1
    
  [n + n-1 + n-1 + n-2] + decompose(n-2)
end

# 4) Not very readable here
def decompose(n)
  case n
  when 0
    []
  when 1
    [1]
  else
    [n + n-1 + n-1 + n-2] + decompose(n-2)
  end
end

how about when {X} then {return_value} for the case statement, i find that much more readable sort of like return [] if n == 0

def decompose(n)
  case n
  when 0 then []
  when 1 then [1]
  else [n + n-1 + n-1 + n-2] + decompose(n-2)
end