Translating Decision Flows to Control Statements

Getting your dream software engineering job often involves cracking coding interviews, and the "FizzBuzz" problem is a classic example that tests your grasp of basic control flow. Let's delve into how to map the problem's requirements to technical implementations.

The Problem Statement Translated

The problem tasks you with making the following decisions based on the input number:

  1. Multiple of 3: Return "fizz"
  2. Multiple of 5: Return "buzz"
  3. Multiple of both 3 and 5: Return "fizzbuzz"
  4. None of the above: Return the number itself

Why Use Control Statements?

You might be wondering why control statements like if-else and switch are the way to go here. That's because these statements allow us to simulate decision-making in code, just as we do in everyday life. When your language doesn't include a switch statement, if-else ladders are the tool of choice.

The Art of Decision Making in Code

Step 1: Identify the Key Decisions

First, observe the series of decisions needed. Are they mutually exclusive? In our case, yes—each number can only map to one output. This screams "use an if-else ladder."

Step 2: Translate to if-else

Translate each decision point to an if-else statement.

  • If a number is a multiple of both 3 and 5, the number is a multiple of 15 (3 * 5).
  • To check if a number, say n, is a multiple of another number, say m, we use the modulo operator %. If n % m == 0, then n is a multiple of m.
1if /* multiple of 3 */ {
2  // fizz
3} else if /* multiple of 5 */ {
4  // buzz
5} else if /* multiple of 3 and 5 */ {
6  // fizzbuzz
7} else {
8  // return number
9}