Is the conditional operator slow?

Question

I was looking at some code with a huge switch statement and an if-else statement on each case and instantly felt the urge to optimize. As a good developer always should do I

Answer 1

I don't have VS to hand but surely there's a simple built-in way to get the key as a character? Something like a toString method so you can replace that monstrous switch with this:

if (shift)
  return inKey.toString().toUppercase();
else
  return inKey.toString().toLowercase();

Answer 2

I would choose the third option only because it is more readable/maintainable. I bet this code isn't the bottleneck of your application performance.