Ruby's case - no break

It has always struck me that switch statements in languages like C, PHP, Tcl and Java are very longwinded and clumsy, with a need for blocks and blocks, and every case having to end with a break (or equivalent) to stop multiple cases being run via a drop-through. I can understand why they were written that way in the first place but ... ouch.

Ruby's case / where, then, is a breath of fresh air. Easy block structure, multiple options allowed (and a special === test that helps make the case selection easy) and no need for those breaks either!

Larry Wall has steadfastly refused requests for a switch in Perl as you don't need it and ... he agrees with me ... it's clumsy. But Perl 6 will have a given alternative with when clauses which works in a similar way to the superb Ruby solution. My hat off to Matz and Larry.
(written 2006-12-17)

Associated topics are indexed under

P256 - Perl 6 Look Ahead
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  [2817] Setting a safety net or fallback value in Perl - (2010-06-19)
  [2816] Intelligent Matching in Perl - (2010-06-18)
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  [2559] Moving the product forward - ours, and MySQL, Perl, PHP and Python too - (2010-01-01)
  [1721] Perl 6 - When will we have a production release? - (2008-07-26)
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  [1215] An update on Perl - where is it going? - (2007-06-03)
  [582] DWIM and AWWO - (2006-01-30)
  [550] 2006 - Making business a pleasure - (2006-01-01)
  [113] A Parallel for Perl 6 - (2004-11-09)
  [89] When will Perl 6 be available - (2004-10-15)

R104 - Ruby - Control Structures
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  [3254] Multiple inputs, multiple out, ruby functions - (2011-04-19)
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  [3159] Returning multiple values from a function call in various languages - a comparison - (2011-02-06)
  [3158] Ruby training - some fresh examples for string handling applications - (2011-02-05)
  [3156] Splitting data reading code from data processing code - Ruby - (2011-02-04)
  [2975] Why do I need brackets in Ruby ... or Perl, Python, C or Java - (2010-09-29)
  [2892] Alternative loops and conditionals in Ruby and Perl - (2010-07-28)
  [2711] For loop - checked once, or evety time? Ruby v Perl comparison and contrast - (2010-04-07)
  [2619] Passing code to procedures and yield in Ruby - (2010-02-02)
  [2471] A short form of if ... then ... else - (2009-10-23)
  [2287] Learning to program in Ruby - examples of the programming basics - (2009-07-15)
  [1904] Ruby, Perl, Linux, MySQL - some training notes - (2008-11-23)
  [1891] Ruby to access web services - (2008-11-16)
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  [1870] What to do with a huge crop of apples - (2008-11-04)
  [1738] Clean code, jump free (Example in Lua) - (2008-08-06)
  [1696] Saying NOT in Perl, PHP, Python, Lua ... - (2008-07-04)
  [1587] Some Ruby programming examples from our course - (2008-03-21)
  [1582] Ruby, C, Java and more - getting out of loops - (2008-03-19)
  [1220] for loop - how it works (Perl, PHP, Java, C, etc) - (2007-06-06)
  [1163] A better alternative to cutting and pasting code - (2007-04-26)
  [985] Equality in Ruby - == eql? and equal? - (2006-12-14)
  [962] Breaking a loop - Ruby and other languages - (2006-12-03)
  [960] 1st, 2nd, 3rd revisited in Ruby - (2006-12-02)

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Some other Articles

Cascading and the buses
The year of the exploding projector
Most recent file in a directory - PHP
Setting your colour theme through PHP
Ruby's case - no break
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Enthusiastic, but ....
Adding a member to a Hash in Ruby
Ruby - Totally Topical

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