How many nested code blocks do you end up with in practice when coding?

Question

I just finished writing a function that has ended up with nested code blocks something like the following:

class ... {
  void Method() {
    while (...) {
      ...
      switch (...) {
        while (...) {
          switch (...) {
            if (...) {
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Do you find this is standard in your day-to-day coding work, or do you quickly set about trying to redesign and break up the code when you see something like this?

Answer 1

never more than three. as my personal philosophy. However, there are cases where you cannot do better. A typical case is: suppose you have to iterate on all the elements of a 6-indexes matrix. Not your typical case, but sometimes it happens.

So, you could refactor out, say, the innermost three loops. Good... How do you call the routine you refactor ?

In the end, you realize that the highly nested loop is the best for future understanding. Of course this is a special case. If you do have highly nested loops and switches like the one you paste, then you do have a problem, and you should consider giving meaningful names to the various parts, isolate them, tackle the switch with object-orientation, etc..

Answer 2

I would be very worried about the switch-within-switch construct. That should "never" happen. Especially under the light of questions like this ("using switch is bad OOP style?").