Chapter 6

Decision Making and

• When a program breaks the sequential flow and jumps to another part of
the code, it is called as branching.
• Java Supports following control or decision making statement (branching).
- if statement
- switch statement
- Conditional operator statement
• if statements:
1) simple if statement 2) if .. else statement
3) Nested if .. else statement 4) else if ladder
 Simple if statement
if (test expression) Entry
{
statement-block; Test True
} expression
?
statement-x;

False Statement-block

//Program: IfTest.java
Statement-x

Next statement
 The if .. else statement
if (test expression) Entry
{
True False
True-block statement(s) Test
expression
} ?
else
True block False block
{ statement(s) Statement(s)
False-block statement(s)
} Statement-x
Statement-x;
// Program: IfElseTest.java
 Nested if .. else statement
if (test condition1)
{ if (test condition2)
{ statement-1;
}
else
{ statement-2;
}
}
else
{ statement-3;
}
statement-x;
 Nested if .. else statement
// Program: IfElseNesting.java
Entry

False Test True

False Test True

Statement-2 Statement-1

Statement-x
Next statement
 The else if ladder
if (condition 1)
statement-1;
else if (condition 2)
statement-2;
else if (condition 3)
statement-3;
.........
……….
else if (condition n)
statement-n;
else
default-statement;
statement-x;
 Entry
Flowchart of else .. If ladder
Test
True False
Condition1
?
// Program: ElseIfLadder.java
Test
Statement-1 True False
Condition2
?

Test
Statement-2 True False
Condition3
?

Test
Statement-3 True False
Condition
n
?
Default
Statement-n
Statement

Statement-x
 The switch statement
switch (expression)
{ case value-1:
block-1;
break;
case value-2:
block-2;
break;
……….
……….
default:
default-block;
break;
}
statement-x;
 Entry Selection process of the switch statement

Switch
expression //Program: CityGuide.java

expression =
. . . value-1
. . . Block-1
expression =
. . .
value-2
. . . Block-2
…………………………….
…………………………….
(No match) default
default block

statement-x
 The ? : Operator
Syntax: conditional expression ? expression1 : expression2
• E.g.
If ( x < 0) if ( a < b )
flag = 0; c = a + b;
else else
flag = 1; c = a – b;
Can be written as Can be written as
flag = (x < 0) ? 0 : 1; c = ( a < b ) ? a + b : a - b;
 The ? : Operator
Another Example:
{ 4x + 100 for x < 40
salary = { 300 for x = 40
{ 4.5x + 150 for x > 40
Using Conditional Operator:
salary = (x!=40) ? ((x<40) ? (4x+100) : (4.5x+150)) : 300;
Using if .. else statement:
if (x <= 40)
if (x < 40)
salary = 4*x + 100; //Program: CondExpression.java
else
salary = 300;
else
salary = 4.5*x + 150;