Using google closure piler I get the following warning message:

WARNING - If this if/for/while really shouldnt have a body, use {}.

Here's what the documentation says:

This warning means that you have a semi-colon immediately following an if, for, or while statement. For example:

// Produces JSC_SUSPICIOUS_SEMICOLON warning:
if (true);
else alert('no');

Is this just a code convention thing or is {} better than ; for some reason?

Using google closure piler I get the following warning message:

WARNING - If this if/for/while really shouldnt have a body, use {}.

Here's what the documentation says:

This warning means that you have a semi-colon immediately following an if, for, or while statement. For example:

// Produces JSC_SUSPICIOUS_SEMICOLON warning:
if (true);
else alert('no');

Is this just a code convention thing or is {} better than ; for some reason?

• javascript
• google-closure-piler

• Why wouldn't you just test for the opposite? – Evan Davis Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 15:17
• @Mathletics what do you mean? – tim peterson Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 15:18
• 2 It's more clear to me that the if/for/while has an empty body if I read {} – Ye Liu Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 15:18
• 3 Why wouldn't you write if (!condition) alert('no') instead of the empty body? – Evan Davis Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 15:20

1 Answer 1

This guards against things like:

if(condition);
{
    // oops, I really meant for this to be conditional.
    // now it always executes, regardless of condition.
}

The error raised forces you to explicitly put the empty {} before the ; so it's clear that that's what you intended.