OpenEuphoria

Re: "case" or better? (2.6 suggestion mode)

• Posted by "Juergen Luethje" <j.lue at gmx.de> Apr 03, 2005
• 487 views

Pete Lomax wrote:

<big snip>

> Three points sprang to mind:
>  1) the main argument for case is the "fall through"
>  2) the main argument against case is the "fall through" / forgetting
> break.
>
>  3) I vote No Thanks.
>
> It just reminded me why case/select sucks.

It depends on the concrete way how the "case" statement is implemented.
Yes, in C, there is a "fall through" when "break" is not used.

But e.g. in PowerBASIC, there is no "break" (or equivalent) keyword:

year = 2001
select case year
   case 1900 to 1910, 1912
      print "Once upon a time ..."
   case 1960 to 1969
      print "In the sixties ..."
   case > 2000
      print "Recently ..."
   case else
      print "Hmm?"
end select

This is equivalent to

integer year
year = 2001
if (1900 <= year and year <= 1910) or year = 1912 then
   puts(1, "Once upon a time ...\n")
elsif 1960 <= year and year <= 1969 then
   puts(1, "In the sixties ...\n")
elsif year > 2000 then
   puts(1, "Recently ...\n")
else
   puts(1, "Hmm?\n")
end if

In PowerBASIC, there is no "fall through" possible at all.
Of course, when you say:
|  1) the main argument for case is the "fall through"

then there is no main argument for implementing the "case" statement
this way. 

Regards,
   Juergen