Why use switch if you can use else if?

You're absolutely right that both else if and switch can be used to handle multiple conditions, and it often comes down to personal preference or the situation.

However, there are a few advantages to using switch:

• Cleaner code: When you're comparing a single variable to many possible values, switch often results in cleaner and more readable code than multiple else if statements.

• Efficiency: In some cases, switch can be more efficient. When you have many conditions to check for the same variable, switch can sometimes make the process faster than evaluating each condition one by one as else if does.

Here’s a simple example in C++ to show the difference:

// Using else if

#include 
using namespace std;

int main() {
    int day = 3;

    if (day == 1) {
        cout << "Monday";
    } else if (day == 2) {
        cout << "Tuesday";
    } else if (day == 3) {
        cout << "Wednesday";
    } else {
        cout << "Another day";
    }

    return 0;
}

In this example, each condition is checked one by one until a match is found.

// Using switch

#include 
using namespace std;

int main() {
    int day = 3;

    switch(day) {
        case 1:
            cout << "Monday";
            break;
        case 2:
            cout << "Tuesday";
            break;
        case 3:
            cout << "Wednesday";
            break;
        default:
            cout << "Another day";
    }

    return 0;
}

Here, the switch allows the program to directly jump to the matching case block, which can be more efficient and helps the logic feel more organized.

Both approaches work well, and it’s good to be comfortable with both. When dealing with a single variable and multiple constant values, switch tends to be a cleaner and often faster choice.