Return statement on a void?

Question

Theres a part that i dont understand, and if its possible i'd like to be helped a bit with it ^_^.
This class is part of a program that uses threading to display a consistent "Tick Tock", but the part that i dont get is why is there a return statement on the method that is on bold, isn't void supposed to mean that it doesnt return a value, is the return statement just used to get out of the if loop?, or maybe something else! help is appreciated!
class TickTock {
synchronized void tick(boolean running) {
if(!running) { // stop the clock
notify(); // notify any waiting threads
return;
System.out.print("Tick ");
notify(); // let tock() run
try {
wait(); // wait for tock() to complete
catch(InterruptedException exc) {
System.out.println("Thread interrupted.");
synchronized void tock(boolean running) {
if(!running) { // stop the clock
notify(); // notify any waiting threads
return;
System.out.println("Tock");
notify(); // let tick() run
try {
wait(); // wait for tick to complete
catch(InterruptedException exc) {
System.out.println("Thread interrupted.");
}Message was edited by:
Rix87

Answer 1

A simple return statement means that you are just exiting that function. A function can use the return statement even if it is declared a void. It is just that from a void function you can not return a value.
In your code the function is doing some condition checking (if statements) and based on that decides whether to exit the function or to continue going forward.
Additionally, the if-construct is not a loop. If statements provide conditional branching mechanism.
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/branch.html
You probably will never need to break out of an if statement. If you do need it, then perhaps your if condition is suspect.
http://java.sun.com/developer/TechTips/2000/tt0613.html
You can use labeled breaks if you need to break out of nested if statements but it is very rare that you will need them and the code can perhaps be written in another way which is much more readable than labeled breaks.