Why do we need break after case statements?

Question

Why doesn\'t the compiler automatically put break statements after each code block in the switch? Is it for historical reasons? When would you want multiple code blocks to e

Answer 1

Not having an automatic break added by the compiler makes it possible to use a switch/case to test for conditions like 1 <= a <= 3 by removing the break statement from 1 and 2.

switch(a) {
  case 1: //I'm between 1 and 3
  case 2: //I'm between 1 and 3
  case 3: //I'm between 1 and 3
          break;
}