Regarding if () {} else {} style, it's nothing but a matter a taste in my opinion. I don't care at all about that part, meaning I'll using whichever is preferred. I'd think more about it being consistent, if there is a broad agreement to use this style, maybe we could add formatting config file to make it clear.
To make the discussion more interesting, I'm generally on the opposite side of this. I.e., generally preferring
```c if (condition) return f(); return g(); ``` and particularly ```c if (condition1) return f(); if (condition2) return g(); return h(); ``` over the alternatives. A large part of that is simply the fact that "else" after "return" is redundant.
That said, while I'm happy to give my opinion on code style, I'm not a major contributor to the HLSL compiler at this point, and I've largely left it up to the people who are to figure out between themselves, provided it doesn't deviate too egregiously from the broader vkd3d style.