For more than a few cases in the switch:

If the case values are dense (such as just the integers from 0 to 9), the compiler will turn it into a jump table.

https://godbolt.org/z/1Khahr

If too sparse for jump table, then typically will be turned into a binary search tree.

It depends on your compiler.

But as a general rule, the programmer will have a hard time "outsmarting" the compiler by using different objects or abstractions.

Compiler authors have spent many hundreds of combined hours making C code run as fast as possible, and optimizing the switch statement is something they've most certainly done to death.

I.e. if your control flow is switch-case-like, use a switch-case.

Not always. Computed gotos can be faster, because it can relax some restrictions that the switch statement can't amke. Most VM implementations, including CPython, use computed gotos for a not insignificant performance improvement.

https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/master/Python/ceval.c...