title: Long list of if statements in Java
body: <p>Sorry I can't find a question answering this, I'm almost certain someone else has raised it before. </p>
  
  <p>My problem is that I'm writing some system libraries to run embedded devices. I have commands which can be sent to these devices over radio broadcasts. This can only be done by text. inside the system libraries I have a  thread which handles the commands which looks like this</p>
  
  <pre><code>if (value.equals("A")) { doCommandA() }
  else if (value.equals("B")) { doCommandB() } 
  else if etc. 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The problem is that there are a lot of commands to it will quickly spiral to something out of control. Horrible to look out, painful to debug and mind boggling to understand in a few months time. </p>