Java: Performance of Enums vs. if-then-else

Question

I've had no real luck getting a concise answer for this comparison by using Google and rather than do my own time consuming evaluations, I thought I would ask first.

I'm fairly sure that a switch statement using Enums would perform faster than an if-then-else statement, though whether or not it is a noticable difference is another question.

Could someone shed some light on this for me?

---

Thanks for the quick responses guys, I will keep this in mind for future projects.

Answer 1

Yeap, it does, because in general term a switch statement works faster than if/else chain.

Although bytecode generated is not always definitive source for performance comparisons you can examine it to have a better idea.

For instance this code:

class A { 
    enum N { ONE, TWO, THREE }
    void testSwitch( N e ) { 
        switch( e ) { 
            case ONE : x(); break;
            case TWO : x(); break;
            case THREE : x(); break;
        }
    }
    void testIf( Enum e ) { 
        if( e == N.ONE ) { x(); }
        else if( e == N.TWO ) { x(); }
        else if( e == N.THREE ) { x(); }
    }
    void x(){}
}

Generates the following:

Compiled from "A.java"
class A extends java.lang.Object{
A();
  Code:
   0:   aload_0
   1:   invokespecial   #1; //Method java/lang/Object."<init>":()V
   4:   return

void testSwitch(A$N);
  Code:
   0:   getstatic   #2; //Field A$1.$SwitchMap$A$N:[I
   3:   aload_1
   4:   invokevirtual   #3; //Method A$N.ordinal:()I
   7:   iaload
   8:   tableswitch{ //1 to 3
        1: 36;
        2: 43;
        3: 50;
        default: 54 }
   36:  aload_0
   37:  invokevirtual   #4; //Method x:()V
   40:  goto    54
   43:  aload_0
   44:  invokevirtual   #4; //Method x:()V
   47:  goto    54
   50:  aload_0
   51:  invokevirtual   #4; //Method x:()V
   54:  return

void testIf(java.lang.Enum);
  Code:
   0:   aload_1
   1:   getstatic   #5; //Field A$N.ONE:LA$N;
   4:   if_acmpne   14
   7:   aload_0
   8:   invokevirtual   #4; //Method x:()V
   11:  goto    39
   14:  aload_1
   15:  getstatic   #6; //Field A$N.TWO:LA$N;
   18:  if_acmpne   28
   21:  aload_0
   22:  invokevirtual   #4; //Method x:()V
   25:  goto    39
   28:  aload_1
   29:  getstatic   #7; //Field A$N.THREE:LA$N;
   32:  if_acmpne   39
   35:  aload_0
   36:  invokevirtual   #4; //Method x:()V
   39:  return

void x();
  Code:
   0:   return

}

Which seems to be pretty fast in both cases.

So, pick the one that is easier to maintain.

Answer 2

Just stick with the most readable and clear to understand code you can come up with, I'm sure you lost all the time gained in the performance optimization while looking for this answer already. Micro-optimizations like this rarely are worth it and can easily result in code that's more complex than needed.