How to code like a pro in 2022 and avoid If-Else

The post argues that If-Else is useful early on, but senior developers should avoid it when possible. It contrasts simple branching with switch statements and then with a dictionary keyed by animal names, which the author presents as a more readable approach.

Reading notes

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• A junior developer is shown using repeated If-Else checks to map animal names to sounds.
• A mid-level developer replaces the If-Else chain with a switch statement for the same mapping.
• A senior developer stores animal names and sounds in a Dictionary<string, string> and uses TryGetValue.
• For a more complex case, the post uses input.Contains for keywords like Dog and Cat and filters breed arrays.
• The final version moves the action into a delegate, stores condition functions in an array, and calls them with LINQ Any().
• The author says this lets the evaluation stop on the first true condition and improves performance.
• The post ends by telling junior developers to learn these patterns and quotes advice about maintaining code.