Why does C++ require breaks in switch statements? [duplicate]

Answer 1

First of all the output of the first program looks like

x is 1.
x is 2.
x is neither 0, 1 nor 2.

C++ allows to pass the control through all case labels that has no break statement. For example

char c;

std::cin >> c;

switch ( c )
{
case 'y': 
case 'Y': 
    std::cout << "Y was pressed" << std::endl;
    break;

case 'n':
case 'N':
    std::cout << "N was pressed" << std::endl;
    break;

default:
    std::cout << "Neither Y nor N was pressed" << std::endl;
    break;
}         

Some other languages as for example C# do not allow to do this. Nevertheless they require a break statement in any case.:)