execlp() vs excelp < 0 error handling question

What the difference in doing something like

Code:

int main(void) 
{ 
  pid_t pid; 
  int count; 
  for(count=0; count<5; count++) { 
    pid=fork(); 
    if (pid==0) { 
      /* child process */ 
      execlp("kedit", "kedit", (char *) NULL); 
      perror("exec failure"); 
      exit(1); 
    } 
  } 
  return 0; 

}

as opposed to say something like

Code:

int main(void) 
{ 
  pid_t pid; 
  int count; 
  for(count=0; count<5; count++) { 
    pid=fork(); 
    if (pid==0) { 
      /* child process */ 
      if((execlp("kedit", "kedit", (char *) NULL)) < 0){
        perror("exec failure"); 
        exit(1); 
      }
    } 
  } 
  return 0; 

}

My man page says that if any of the exec()'s return they will return error, so it seems that both of your programs are functionally identical.

The latter is clearer for programmers who don't fully understand the exec* family.

Pointless, though, IMO.