Why the switch statement cannot be applied on strings?

Question

Compiling the following code and got the error of type illegal.

int main()
{
    // Compilation error - switch expression of type illegal
    sw         


        

Answer 1

In c++ strings are not first class citizens. The string operations are done through standard library. I think, that is the reason. Also, C++ uses branch table optimization to optimize the switch case statements. Have a look at the link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switch_statement