The virtue of not using them is that successive indentation marks the path of successful execution and makes the scoping explicit. I have never understood why anyone gets stomach cramps at the sight of indentation.

Intangibly, using early returns encourages a bailout kind of thinking that shows up in a variety of bad practices.

I was coding less than three years when I decided to stop using early returns. My code got a lot better right away.

When I’ve been charged with developing coding standards I forbid ERs.