Switch State

Overview

A switch statement in C is an alternative from of the a conditional i.e. if then. A switch statement serves the same purpose as if then but in a format that is sometimes more readable. Often code built around a switch statement is called a state machine because the the switch statement allows you to switch between different states in your code.

Below is an example of a switch statement. Note that the defines are not required but generally make switch statements more readable.

#define STATE_ONE 0
#define STATE_TWO 1

int state = STATE_ONE;

void loop() {

   switch(state) {

      case STATE_ONE:
        // Code for first state goes here
      break;
      case STATE_TWO:
        // Code for second state goes here
      break;
   }

}

Exercise:

1. Construct a circuit with one LED and one button.

2. Write some code to blink your LED when the button is pressed.

3. Using the code example, write a program flashes the button quickly when the button is pressed and slowly when the button is pressed again. Essentially, it should alternate between these two states each time the button is pressed.

   TEACHER CHECK ___