We're trying to make switch statements simpler to understand at a glance. Misunderstanding the control flow of a switch block is a common source of bugs.

Statement switch statements:

• Have a colon between the case and the case's code. For example, case HEARTS:
• Because of the potential for fall-through, it takes time and cognitive load to understand the control flow for each case
• When a switch block is large, just skimming each case can be toilsome
• Fall-though can also be conditional (see example below). In this scenario, one would need to reason about all possible flows for each case. When conditionally falling-through multiple cases in a row is possible, the number of potential control flows can grow rapidly

Expression switch statements

• Have an arrow between the case and the case's code. For example, case HEARTS ->
• With an expression switch statement, you know at a glance that no cases fall through. No control flow analysis needed
• Safely and easily reorder cases (within a switch)
• It's also possible to group identical cases together (case A, B, C) for improved readability

Examples

1. Eliminate fall through

enum Suit {HEARTS, CLUBS, SPADES, DIAMONDS};

private void foo(Suit suit) {
  switch(suit) {
    case HEARTS:
      System.out.println("Red hearts");
      break;
    case DIAMONDS:
      System.out.println("Red diamonds");
      break;
    case SPADES:
      // Fall through
    case CLUBS:
      bar();
      System.out.println("Black suit");
    }
}

Which can be simplified into the following expression switch:

enum Suit {HEARTS, CLUBS, SPADES, DIAMONDS};

private void foo(Suit suit) {
  switch(suit) {
    case HEARTS -> System.out.println("Red hearts");
    case DIAMONDS -> System.out.println("Red diamonds");
    case SPADES, CLUBS -> {
      bar();
      System.out.println("Black suit");
    }
  }
}

2. Return switch

Sometimes switch is used with return. Below, even though a case is specified for each possible value of the enum, note that we nevertheless need a “should never happen” clause:

enum SideOfCoin {OBVERSE, REVERSE};

private String foo(SideOfCoin sideOfCoin) {
  switch(sideOfCoin) {
    case OBVERSE:
      return "Heads";
    case REVERSE:
      return "Tails";
    }
    // This should never happen, but removing this will cause a compile-time error
    throw new RuntimeException("Unknown side of coin");
}

Using an expression switch simplifies the code and removes the need for an explicit “should never happen” clause.

enum SideOfCoin {OBVERSE, REVERSE};

private String foo(SideOfCoin sideOfCoin) {
  return switch(sideOfCoin) {
    case OBVERSE -> "Heads";
    case REVERSE -> "Tails";
  };
}

If you nevertheless wish to have an explicit “should never happen” clause, this can be accomplished by placing the logic under a default case. For example:

enum SideOfCoin {OBVERSE, REVERSE};

private String foo(SideOfCoin sideOfCoin) {
  return switch(sideOfCoin) {
    case OBVERSE -> "Heads";
    case REVERSE -> "Tails";
    default -> {
      // This should never happen
      throw new RuntimeException("Unknown side of coin");
    }
  };
}

3. Assignment switch

If every branch of a switch is making an assignment to the same variable, it can be re-written as an assignment switch:

enum Suit {HEARTS, CLUBS, SPADES, DIAMONDS};

int score = 0;

private void updateScore(Suit suit) {
  switch(suit) {
    case HEARTS:
      // Fall thru
    case DIAMONDS:
      score += -1;
      break;
    case SPADES:
      score += 2;
      break;
    case CLUBS:
      score += 3;
    }
}

This can be simplified as follows:

enum Suit {HEARTS, CLUBS, SPADES, DIAMONDS};

int score = 0;

private void updateScore(Suit suit) {
  score += switch(suit) {
    case HEARTS, DIAMONDS -> -1;
    case SPADES -> 2;
    case CLUBS -> 3;
    };
}

4. Complex control flows

Here's an example of a complex statement switch with conditional fall-through and complex control flows. How many potential execution paths can you spot?

enum Suit {HEARTS, CLUBS, SPADES, DIAMONDS};

private int foo(Suit suit){
  switch(suit) {
    case HEARTS:
      if (bar()) {
        break;
      }
      // Fall through
    case CLUBS:
      if (baz()) {
        return 1;
      } else if (baz2()) {
        throw new AssertionError(...);
      }
      // Fall through
    case SPADES:
      // Fall through
    case DIAMONDS:
      return 0;
  }
  return -1;
}