Main menu puzzle

[Charles Hartman]

On Feb 18, 2006, at 3:45 PM, Rob Cozens wrote:

> As a programmer, I see any "if" construct with more than two  
> mutually exclusive alternatives as crying out for switch [case]  
> syntax.
>
> Not only is it easier to comprehend the total logic flow, but  
> adding new alternatives is much simpler.

As not a programmer -- as someone who finds it difficult to foresee  
and pre-design all the branches I'm going to want -- I really agree  
with this. The trouble with chains of "if" statements is that it's  
too easy for both me and the language to get befuddled about which  
"else" goes with who, and when my confusion & the language's  
confusion don't match, the logic error can be really elusive and I  
waste a lot of time tracking it down. The "switch" statement feels  
clunkier, but as long as you don't forget a "break" (a perpetual  
pitfall) you can always look at the thing and tell what it's meant to  
do.

Charles