A professor told me long ago to use else when "chaining" multiple conditions in a series (I was still learning). Now that I've been tinkering with several frameworks and CMS years later, I find it quite amusing that what I was taught to do isn't necessarily so. I was taught to use else in between a series of conditions: function double(param){ if(param==1){ return param+=1; } else if(param==2){ return param+=2; } else{ return false; } } Nowadays, I seem to see this, which I was warned long ago NOT to do: function double(param){ if(param==1){ return param+=1; } if(param==2){ return param+=2; } return false; } This sample code might not work, but the idea is there: Is it necessary to use else in between every condition? If so (or not so), what should I look out for when using either way? There must be something that caused my professor to tell me such thing.