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From: johnson@p.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Improved switch statement (was Re:
Message-ID: <77300018@p.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 29 Dec 88 14:33:00 GMT
References: <574@redsox.UUCP>
Lines: 16
Nf-ID: #R:redsox.UUCP:574:p.cs.uiuc.edu:77300018:000:902
Nf-From: p.cs.uiuc.edu!johnson    Dec 29 08:33:00 1988


This discussion about modifying the switch statement in C++ is pretty
amusing.  Case statements are bad programming style in object-oriented
programs.  Instead, you should use virtual functions.  Don't say that
you want to distinguish the values of integers and virtual functions
won't work in that context.  That just reveals that you are using
integers where you should be using something else.

There are certainly places where one should use switch statements, mainly
when you are converting from a non-object-oriented part of the system
to the clean, elegant part.  However, I put switch statements in the same
category with goto statements: sometimes necessary but never elegant.

Virtual functions are even faster than switch statements.  For proof,
see the paper by Russo and Kaplan in the latest C++ conference.  There
is no reason to use switch statements when you can use virtual functions.