Why is using "Return "safe"" right when "Puts "safe"" wrong?

Question

So far in the lessons, we have been instructed to use "puts", and I learned in the community that "return" is the right. I found this also in the community: https://teamtreehouse.com/community/what-is-the-difference-between-puts-vs-return-when-defining-a-method

My big point (&&) question, did I miss something in the instruction up-to-this point because we never talked about "return".

Why is this the right answer:

def check_speed(car_speed)
  # write your code here
  if (car_speed >= 40) && (car_speed <= 50)
    return "safe"
  else
    return "unsafe"
  end
end

when this is this is the wrong answer"

def check_speed(car_speed)
  # write your code here
  if (car_speed >= 40) && (car_speed <= 50)
    puts "safe"
  else
    puts "unsafe"
  end
end

Answer 1 · 2017-09-10T14:23:29Z

September 10, 2017 2:23pm

Hiya there! "return" is the right way coz the challenge asked you to return the variable , not output to the console. Also one more thing i'd like to mention here is that you dont even need to use return keywords in your loops or function. Why? 'coz Ruby does an implicit return and assumes the last statement is returning something. So finally your code should look like this:

def check_speed(car_speed)
  if (car_speed >= 40) && (car_speed <= 50)
    "safe"
  else
    "unsafe"
  end
end

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Michael Henry

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Why is using "Return "safe"" right when "Puts "safe"" wrong?

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Ari Misha

Ari Misha