That's an extremely bad example - why would cat ever fall through to dog? At least come up with a situation where fall through makes sense. Generally, IMO, it'

That's an extremely bad example - why would cat ever fall through to dog? At least come up with a situation where fall through makes sense. Generally, IMO, it's a much better idea to use meaningful constants and method names. So the code becomes: switch(action) { case CHECK_AND_FOO: check(); case FOO: foo(); break; default: llama(); } Now, Joe would not only know not to add in a break, but also why - all without adding a single comment.