Controlling The Flow

Control Flow in Programming

When we talk about control flow in programming, we're referring to the order in which individual instructions, statements, or functions are executed in. I'm currently learning JavaScript, so I'll mainly be referring to the way control flow works in that particular language. In JavaScript code is usually executed from top to bottom, however you can change/manage the order using control flow statements. I will list some great options below.

if statements

Probably one of the most well known/used statements is the if statement. An if statement allows your program to make decisions by executing a code block ONLY if a specified condition returns true.

else if statements

After an if statement there may be an else if statement. An else if statement is used to check multiple conditions. So if the first if statement returns false, it moves on to else if statement and so on until the conditional statement returns true.

else statements

Nearly after all if/else if statements comes the else statement, it is used in tandem with an if statement to execute a different block of code when the original if statement returns false.

switch statements

A similar conditional statement you can use in place of if/else if/else statements is the switch statement. The switch statement is usually used over the if/else if/else chain when you're checking the same variable or expression against multiple discrete values. So if you have many if/else if conditions all comparing the same variable to different constant values, switch would be a better choice.

In conclusion

Control flow is an essential concept for programmers to understand if they wish to write clear and efficient code in JavaScript. Whether you decide to use an if, else if, else, or switch statement, each one of these tools assists you with controlling the way your program responds to different conditions. As one continues building their skills as a developer, knowing when and how to use these statements will make your code more powerful and easier to maintain.