I agree. The idiomatic thing here would be to simply declare `var err error` in the surrounding scope, especially since this example is a small function where this wouldn't matter.

But "idiomatic" always takes a backseat compared to technical necessity. If there is a requirement, for some reason, to limit the scope of `err` and still allow `result` to be changed in the if's pre-assignment, then this is the way to do it.