[BUG] Strange code logic in ColumnBase._fill

[isVoid]

I came across this during the categorical column refactor:

cudf/python/cudf/cudf/core/column/column.py

Lines 345 to 380 in 1de662f

	def _fill(
	self,
	fill_value: ScalarLike,
	begin: int,
	end: int,
	inplace: bool = False,
	) -> Optional[ColumnBase]:
	if end <= begin or begin >= self.size:
	return self if inplace else self.copy()
	fill_scalar = as_device_scalar(fill_value, self.dtype)
	if not inplace:
	return libcudf.filling.fill(self, begin, end, fill_scalar)
	if is_string_dtype(self.dtype):
	return self._mimic_inplace(
	libcudf.filling.fill(self, begin, end, fill_scalar),
	inplace=True,
	)
	if fill_value is None and not self.nullable:
	mask = create_null_mask(self.size, state=MaskState.ALL_VALID)
	self.set_base_mask(mask)
	libcudf.filling.fill_in_place(self, begin, end, fill_scalar)
	return self
	fill_code = self._encode(fill_value)
	fill_scalar = as_device_scalar(fill_code, self.codes.dtype)
	result = self if inplace else self.copy()
	libcudf.filling.fill_in_place(result.codes, begin, end, fill_scalar)
	return result

Seems strange that self is returned in the middle.

[beckernick]

Nice find. Perhaps this could have been caused by a merge conflict resolution that removed an older implementation?