The Switch vs If-Else

Are you suffering from multiple uses of if-then-else statements for a particular system?

Then use a switch statement!

They are efficient, cleaner, easier to code, and easier to read.

From the Mircosoft C# Documentation, it describes the switch:

switch is a selection statement that chooses a single switch section to execute from a list of candidates based on a pattern match with the match expression.

When to use a Switch?

Use them when you have if-then-else chains in your code.

Take this for example. This will work. It’s a bit messy and inefficient. It’s also a chain of if-then-else statements that can grow.

if(_powerupType == PowerupType.TripleShot)
{
   player.TripleShotActive();
}
else if(_powerupType == PowerupType.Speed)
{
   player.SpeedBoostActive();
}
else if(_powerupType == PowerupType.Shield)
{
   player.ShieldActive();
}
else
{
   Debug.Log("A powerup has not been selected");
}

Here’s a switch. It’s cleaner and efficient and works equally the same from the above example — replacing the if-else construct. Easier to code and read!

 switch (_powerupType)
 {
    case PowerupType.TripleShot:
       player.TripleShotActive();
       break;
    case PowerupType.Speed:
       player.SpeedBoostActive();
       break;
    case PowerupType.Shield:
       player.ShieldActive();
      break;
    default:
       _powerupType = PowerupType.None;
       break;
 }

I am using an enum to distinguish the type of powerup. I use it for a switch statement that allows me to have individual functionality when using the case clauses. I then choose the powerup type ending with a colon.

The following step is to use the body of the case clause for the functionality of the type ending with a break; statement.

For more information about switch’s, head over to Microsoft’s C# Documentation!

There is a lot to learn using a switch statement!
That is all for today! Thank you for reading!