if...else and switch

In short: if / else if / else tests conditions in order and runs the first one that's true, skipping the rest — any boolean expression is fair game. switch (value) compares one value against a list of fixed cases and jumps straight to the matching one — but it falls through: once it starts running a case's code, it keeps going into the next case too, unless you stop it with break. switch is really if/else sugar for "one value, several fixed options."

Tiered shipping fees

if/else if/else handles ranges and arbitrary conditions naturally:

Each branch is tested in order, top to bottom, and the first true one wins — 2500 > 2000 is true, so the chain stops right there and never even looks at the other conditions. This reads naturally for ranges and combinations that switch can't express directly.

A status code with fixed options

When you're really asking "which one of these exact values is it?", switch is clearer:

"PACKED" and "SHIPPED" share one return by stacking two case labels — a deliberate, controlled fall-through. default is switch's else: it catches anything that matched no case.

The trap: forgetting break

Stack cases without a return or break, and execution keeps sliding down into the next case's code — often by accident:

grade(95) should probably just be "A", but with no break after that case, execution falls straight into the score >= 70 case too, giving "A-ish". Every case needs a return or an explicit break unless falling through is exactly what you want.

Quick practice