avoiding if statements

Question

I was thinking about object oriented design today, and I was wondering if you should avoid if statements. My thought is that in any case where you require an if statement you ca

Answer 1

Completely eliminating if statements is not realistic and I don't think that is what Ori is suggesting. But they can often be replaced using polymorphism. (And so can many switch statements).

Francesco Cirillo started the Anti-If Campaign to raise awareness of this issue. He says:

Knowing how to use objects lets developers eliminate IFs based on type, those that most often compromise software's flexibility and ability to evolve.

You or your team can also join the campaign.