ADVANTAGES OF SWITCH CASE OVER IF ELSE?
Check the Testing Expression: An if-then-else statement can test expressions
based on ranges of values or conditions, whereas a switch statement tests
expressions based only on a single integer, enumerated value, or String
object.
Switch better for Multi way branching: When compiler compiles a switch statement
, it will inspect each of the case constants and create a “jump table” that
it will use for selecting the path of execution depending on the value of
the expression. Therefore, if we need to select among a large group of
values, a switch statement will run much faster than the equivalent logic
coded using a sequence of if-elses. The compiler can do this because it
knows that the case constants are all the same type and simply must be
compared for equality with the switch expression, while in case of if
expressions, the compiler has no such knowledge.
if-else better for boolean values: If-else conditional branches are great for
variable conditions that result into a boolean, whereas switch statements
are great for fixed data values.
Speed: A switch statement might prove to be faster than ifs provided number
of cases are good. If there are only few cases, it might not effect the
speed in any case. Prefer switch if the number of cases are more than 5
otherwise, you may use if-else too.
If a switch contains more than five items, it’s implemented using a lookup
table or a hash list. This means that all items get the same access time,
compared to a list of if:s where the last item takes much more time to
reach as it has to evaluate every previous condition first.
Clarity in readability: A switch looks much cleaner when you have to combine
cases. Ifs are quite vulnerable to errors too. Missing an else statement
can land you up in havoc. Adding/removing labels is also easier with a
switch and makes your code significantly easier to change and maintain.