Question

I have a problem that asks the user for a number from 1-12 and then the program returns the corresponding month. For example, if they user inputs the number “2” then the string “Feb” will be printed.

I know how to achieve this but I feel like there is a better, more efficient way of solving it. The way I was thinking of going about it is to just make 12 if statements for each number (1-12) and then have the corresponding month printed depending on the number.

Answer 1

Use a Map keyed by the month number. The value would contain the month name.

Map<Integer, String> monthNames = new HashMap<Integer, String>();
monthNames.put(1, "January");
monthNames.put(2, "February");
...
int month = 3;
System.out.println(monthNames.get(month)); // prints March

Also consider using DateFormatSymbols to get the month names. See How can I convert an Integer to localized month name in Java?