Language should not demand a return statement when using named return values

[gopherbot]

by thwilloch:

func c(n, m int) (r int)  {
    r= 1;
    for i:=0; i!=m; i++ { r*= n-i; r/= i+1}
    return
}
The final return statement should be unnecessary, but is demanded by
the compiler.  With named return values the compiler should be able to make
the return code at the end of the function.

[rsc]

Comment 1:

We thought about this while designing the feature
and decided that since you can still write "return 5"
and not use r, it is important to signal the 
"return the current value of r" case explicitly,
in case you had intended to return 5 and forgot.

Labels changed: added language-change.

Owner changed to [email protected].

Status changed to WontFix.

[gopherbot]

Comment 2 by thwilloch:

I think that with named returns you should forbid return with values.
Then you can easily accept functions without return statements.

[rsc]

Comment 3:

Thanks for your input, but we find it very useful to
allow return with values in functions with named
returns.  The names are good documentation,
and the values make it clear what exactly is
being returned.  We've written a lot of Go code
using this style and are quite happy with it.