Question

This maze project assumes that a cell is rectangular, and that there is an entrance into and an exit from the cell.  What if the entrance and the exit were closed doors and the user was to choose which door leads to the next cell?  What would be some pseudocode for this scenario?

Notice that " switch case " statements are used for this project along with " if " statements.  Can they be interchanged and still produce the same results [ i.e., make the switch case statements into if statements, and the if statements into switch case statements ] ? Support your answer!

Reference source code for more information:

public class Maze

{

  static Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

  // maze movements

  static char myMove = '\0';

  // cell position

  static int currentCell = 0;

  static int score = 0;

  static boolean advance = true;

  static boolean checkThis = false;

  public static void main(String args[])

  {

   // the local variables declared and initialized

   char answer = 'Y';

  

   displayMenu();  

      

   while(answer == 'Y' || answer == 'y')

   {

            displayMovement();

            makeYourMove();

            checkThis = checkYourMove();

            mazeStatus();

            System.out.println("move again(Y or N)?");

      answer = sc.next().charAt(0);

  }

   System.out.println("***************************");

}// end main() method

static void displayMenu()

{

   System.out.println("");

   System.out.println("***************************");

   System.out.println("----The Maze Strategy---");

   System.out.println("");

}// end method

static void displayMovement()

{

            if(currentCell == 0)

            {

                        System.out.println("You have entered the maze!!");

                        System.out.println("There is no turning back!!");

                        currentCell = 1;

                        mazeStatus();

                        advance = true;

            }

      System.out.println("make your move (W, A, S, D)");

      System.out.println("W = up, A = left, S = down, D = right)");

}// end method

static void makeYourMove()

{

            myMove = sc.next().charAt(0);

            score++;

            

            switch(myMove)

            {

              case 'W': { MoveUp(); break; }

              case 'A': { MoveLeft(); break; }

              case 'S': { MoveDown(); break; }

              case 'D': { MoveRight(); break; }

            }

            // end program menu

}// end method

static boolean checkYourMove()

{

            if(currentCell == 1 && advance == true)

            {

                        if (myMove == 'W')

                        {

                                    advance = false;

                                    System.out.println("try again");

                                    return advance;

                        }

                        if (myMove == 'A')

                        {

                                    advance = false;

                                    System.out.println("SORRY, there is no return");

                                    return advance;

                        }

                        if (myMove == 'D')

                        {

                                    currentCell = 2;

                                    advance = true;

                                    System.out.println("continue through the maze");

                                    return advance;

                        }

                        if (myMove == 'S')

                        {

                                    advance = false;

                                    System.out.println("continue through the maze");

                                    return advance;

                        }

            }

return advance;

            // end program menu

}// end method

static void MoveLeft()

{

   System.out.println("you moved to the left");

   

}// end method

static void MoveRight()

{

             System.out.println("you moved to the right");

            

}// end method

static void MoveUp()

{

            System.out.println("you moved up (forward)");

            

}// end method

static void MoveDown()

{

            System.out.println("you moved down (downward)");

            

}// end method

static void mazeStatus()

{

            System.out.println("current position: cell " + currentCell);

}// end method

}// end class

Answer 1

Ans:- Yes, the switch and if statement can be interchanged and produced the same output. Both, if and switch are the types of branching statement. Switch statements are basically used to evaluate condition based on the value of single variable or object and if statements are used to run the block if a particular condition is met. If a code test again a single condition, you can choose between any method (if and switch) without any hesitation.  SInce,in the above code, if and switch are both used to test again single value of variable, they can be used interchangeably. For more clearance, i am attaching the ouput of both the code before and after update.

Updated Code:-

import java.util.*;
public class Maze
{

  static Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

  // maze movements

  static char myMove = '\0';

  // cell position

  static int currentCell = 0;

  static int score = 0;

  static boolean advance = true;

  static boolean checkThis = false;

  public static void main(String args[])

  {

   // the local variables declared and initialized

   char answer = 'Y';

  

   displayMenu();  

      

   while(answer == 'Y' || answer == 'y')

   {

            displayMovement();

            makeYourMove();

            checkThis = checkYourMove();

            mazeStatus();

            System.out.println("move again(Y or N)?");

      if(sc.hasNext())
      answer = sc.next().charAt(0);

  }

   System.out.println("***************************");

}// end main() method

static void displayMenu()

{

   System.out.println("");

   System.out.println("***************************");

   System.out.println("----The Maze Strategy---");

   System.out.println("");

}// end method

static void displayMovement()

{

            if(currentCell == 0)

            {

                        System.out.println("You have entered the maze!!");

                        System.out.println("There is no turning back!!");

                        currentCell = 1;

                        mazeStatus();

                        advance = true;

            }

      System.out.println("make your move (W, A, S, D)");

      System.out.println("W = up, A = left, S = down, D = right)");

}// end method

static void makeYourMove() 
{
            if(sc.hasNext())
            myMove = sc.next().charAt(0);

            score++;
  //Change the switch into if statement

              if(myMove == 'W') // if user entered 'W' MoveUp() will executed
                 MoveUp(); 

              if(myMove == 'A') // if user entered 'A' MoveLeft() will executed
                MoveLeft();

              if(myMove == 'S') // if user entered 'S' MoveDown() will executed
                MoveDown();
              
              if(myMove == 'A') // if user entered 'A' MoveRight() will executed
                MoveRight();
        
  
            // end program menu

}// end method

static boolean checkYourMove()

{

            if(currentCell == 1 && advance == true)

            {  //here we change the if statement into switch statement
                switch(myMove)
                {
                    // if user entered 'W' case 'W' will executed
                    case 'W': { 
                                advance = false;
                                System.out.println("try again"); 
                                break;
                              }
                    // if user entered 'A' case 'A' will executed
                    case 'A': { 
                                advance = false;
                                System.out.println("SORRY, there is no return");
                                break;
                              }
                    // if user entered 'S' case 'S' will executed    
                    case 'S': { 
                                    advance = false;
                                    System.out.println("continue through the maze");
                                    break;
                              }
                    // if user entered 'D' case 'D' will executed 
                    case 'D': { 
                                    currentCell = 2;
                                    advance = true;
                                    System.out.println("continue through the maze"); 
                                    break; 
                              }
             }
            }

             return advance;

            // end program menu

}// end method

static void MoveLeft()

{

   System.out.println("you moved to the left");

   

}// end method

static void MoveRight()

{

             System.out.println("you moved to the right");

            

}// end method

static void MoveUp()

{

            System.out.println("you moved up (forward)");

            

}// end method

static void MoveDown()

{

            System.out.println("you moved down (downward)");

            

}// end method

static void mazeStatus()

{

            System.out.println("current position: cell " + currentCell);

}// end method

}// end class

Output (before updation):-

Output (Updated Code):-

Here, you can see that both the code( before updation and after updation) produced the same output. Hence, both if and switch statements can be used interchangeably in this code.