if else / switch

The if/else statement branches execution based on whether a condition evaluates to true or false, and can be chained with else if for multiple conditions. The switch statement compares a single value against several possible cases and is often clearer than a long if/else if chain when checking one variable against many fixed values. Forgetting a break at the end of a switch case causes execution to fall through into the next case, which is a common source of bugs.