Java: If vs. Switch

Question

I have a piece of code with a) which I replaced with b) purely for legibility ...

a)

if ( WORD[ INDEX ] == 'A' ) branch = BRANCH.A;
/* B through to Y */
if ( WORD[ INDEX ] == 'Z' ) branch = BRANCH.Z;

b)

switch ( WORD[ INDEX ] ) {
    case 'A' : branch = BRANCH.A; break;
    /* B through to Y */
    case 'Z' : branch = BRANCH.Z; break;
}

... will the switch version cascade through all the permutations or jump to a case ?

EDIT:

Some of the answers below regard alternative approaches to the approach above.
I have included the following to provide context for its use.

The reason I asked, the Question above, was because the speed of adding words empirically improved.

This isn't production code by any means, and was hacked together quickly as a PoC.

The following seems to be a confirmation of failure for a thought experiment.
I may need a much bigger corpus of words than the one I am currently using though.
The failure arises from the fact I did not account for the null references still requiring memory. ( doh ! )

public class Dictionary {
    private static Dictionary ROOT;
    private boolean terminus;
    private Dictionary A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z;
    private static Dictionary instantiate( final Dictionary DICTIONARY ) {
        return ( DICTIONARY == null ) ? new Dictionary() : DICTIONARY;
    }
    private Dictionary() {
        this.terminus = false;
        this.A = this.B = this.C = this.D = this.E = this.F = this.G = this.H = this.I = this.J = this.K = this.L = this.M = this.N = this.O = this.P = this.Q = this.R = this.S = this.T = this.U = this.V = this.W = this.X = this.Y = this.Z = null;
    }
    public static void add( final String...STRINGS ) {
        Dictionary.ROOT = Dictionary.instantiate( Dictionary.ROOT );
        for ( final String STRING : STRINGS ) Dictionary.add( STRING.toUpperCase().toCharArray(), Dictionary.ROOT , 0, STRING.length() - 1 );
    }
    private static void add( final char[] WORD, final Dictionary BRANCH, final int INDEX, final int INDEX_LIMIT ) {
        Dictionary branch = null;
        switch ( WORD[ INDEX ] ) {
        case 'A' : branch = BRANCH.A = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.A ); break;
        case 'B' : branch = BRANCH.B = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.B ); break;
        case 'C' : branch = BRANCH.C = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.C ); break;
        case 'D' : branch = BRANCH.D = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.D ); break;
        case 'E' : branch = BRANCH.E = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.E ); break;
        case 'F' : branch = BRANCH.F = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.F ); break;
        case 'G' : branch = BRANCH.G = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.G ); break;
        case 'H' : branch = BRANCH.H = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.H ); break;
        case 'I' : branch = BRANCH.I = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.I ); break;
        case 'J' : branch = BRANCH.J = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.J ); break;
        case 'K' : branch = BRANCH.K = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.K ); break;
        case 'L' : branch = BRANCH.L = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.L ); break;
        case 'M' : branch = BRANCH.M = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.M ); break;
        case 'N' : branch = BRANCH.N = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.N ); break;
        case 'O' : branch = BRANCH.O = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.O ); break;
        case 'P' : branch = BRANCH.P = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.P ); break;
        case 'Q' : branch = BRANCH.Q = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.Q ); break;
        case 'R' : branch = BRANCH.R = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.R ); break;
        case 'S' : branch = BRANCH.S = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.S ); break;
        case 'T' : branch = BRANCH.T = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.T ); break;
        case 'U' : branch = BRANCH.U = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.U ); break;
        case 'V' : branch = BRANCH.V = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.V ); break;
        case 'W' : branch = BRANCH.W = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.W ); break;
        case 'X' : branch = BRANCH.X = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.X ); break;
        case 'Y' : branch = BRANCH.Y = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.Y ); break;
        case 'Z' : branch = BRANCH.Z = Dictionary.instantiate( BRANCH.Z ); break;
        }   
        if ( INDEX == INDEX_LIMIT ) branch.terminus = true;
        else Dictionary.add( WORD, branch, INDEX + 1, INDEX_LIMIT );
    }
    public static boolean is( final String STRING ) {
        Dictionary.ROOT = Dictionary.instantiate( Dictionary.ROOT );
        return Dictionary.is( STRING.toUpperCase().toCharArray(), Dictionary.ROOT, 0, STRING.length() - 1 );
    }
    private static boolean is( final char[] WORD, final Dictionary BRANCH, final int INDEX, final int INDEX_LIMIT ) {
        Dictionary branch = null;
        switch ( WORD[ INDEX ] ) {
        case 'A' : branch = BRANCH.A; break;
        case 'B' : branch = BRANCH.B; break;
        case 'C' : branch = BRANCH.C; break;
        case 'D' : branch = BRANCH.D; break;
        case 'E' : branch = BRANCH.E; break;
        case 'F' : branch = BRANCH.F; break;
        case 'G' : branch = BRANCH.G; break;
        case 'H' : branch = BRANCH.H; break;
        case 'I' : branch = BRANCH.I; break;
        case 'J' : branch = BRANCH.J; break;
        case 'K' : branch = BRANCH.K; break;
        case 'L' : branch = BRANCH.L; break;
        case 'M' : branch = BRANCH.M; break;
        case 'N' : branch = BRANCH.N; break;
        case 'O' : branch = BRANCH.O; break;
        case 'P' : branch = BRANCH.P; break;
        case 'Q' : branch = BRANCH.Q; break;
        case 'R' : branch = BRANCH.R; break;
        case 'S' : branch = BRANCH.S; break;
        case 'T' : branch = BRANCH.T; break;
        case 'U' : branch = BRANCH.U; break;
        case 'V' : branch = BRANCH.V; break;
        case 'W' : branch = BRANCH.W; break;
        case 'X' : branch = BRANCH.X; break;
        case 'Y' : branch = BRANCH.Y; break;
        case 'Z' : branch = BRANCH.Z; break;
        }
        if ( branch == null ) return false;
        if ( INDEX == INDEX_LIMIT ) return branch.terminus;
        else return Dictionary.is( WORD, branch, INDEX + 1, INDEX_LIMIT );
    }
}

Answer 1

Don't worry about performance; use the syntax that best expresses what you're doing. Only after you have (a) demonstrated a performance deficiency; and (b) localized it to the routine in question, only then should you worry about performance. For my money, the case syntax is more appropriate here.

Answer 2

In bytecode there are two forms of switch: tableswitch and lookupswitch. One assumes a dense set of keys, the other sparse. See the description of compiling switch in the JVM spec. For enums, the ordinal is found and then the code continues as the int case. I am not entirely sure how the proposed switch on String little feature in JDK7 will be implemented.

However, heavily used code is typically compiled in any sensible JVM. The optimiser is not entirely stupid. Don't worry about it, and follow the usual heuristics for optimisation.