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I was curious as to the speed on switch , believing that it was "very" fast, but I have a test case that seems to show a single switch is about as fast as about 4 if tests, when I expected (no solid reason) it to be as fast as 1 test. Here's the two methods I wrote to compare switch with if : public static int useSwitch(int i) { switch (i) { case 1: return 2; case 2: return 3; case 3: return 4; case 4: return 5; case 5: return 6; case 6: return 7; default: return 0; } } public static int useIf(int i) { if (i == 1) return 2; if (i == 2) return 3; if (i == 3) return 4; if (i == 4) return 5; if (i == 5) return 6; if (i == 6) return 7; return 0; } Here's my testing code: long x = 0; for (int i = 0; i < 999999; i++) x += useIf(i % 7); // I use "x" so calls won't get optimized out And another identical loop for useSwitch() On my machine these loops take about the same time to complete, which was a surprise. I arrived at the number of ifs as "4", because that's the average given the input range (I think). If I reduce the number of logic options, the if version is noticeably faster. My question is: Is it that switch actually isn't that fast, or is this an "unfair" test in some way?

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