Java switch cases: with or without braces?

Question

Consider the following two snippets, with braces:

switch (var) {
  case FOO: {
    x = x + 1;
    break;
  }

  case BAR: {
    y = y + 1;
    break;
  }
}
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Answer 1

I wouldn't use braces for switch cases.

• The switch statement looks baroque enough already without braces.

• Switch cases should be very short. When you need to declare variables it is a sign that you are doing it wrong.

Now off to maintaining some legacy C code which sports switch cases of 500+ lines ...