Java Switch

Question

Can someone give me an example of where a Switch case would be used? In an application maybe? It seems more difficult than useful

Answer 1

Basically you use switches everywhere you would use a long list of if/else ifs that all check the same variable. for example

if (type == 1) {
// do stuff
} else if (type == 2) {
// do stuff
} else if (type == 3) {
// do stuff
} else {
// do other stuff
}

can be rewritten to

switch (type) {
case 1:
// do stuff
break;
case 2:
// do stuff
break;
case 3:
// do stuff
break;
defaut:
// do other stuff
}

which is easier to read. A common use case in Java are enums:

public enum Day { MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, ... }

then you can

switch (myDay) {
case MONDAY:
// ...
case TUESDAY:
// ...
...
}

Don't forget about the break statements though. :D