Switch statement is fine. if / else if structures are also ok, because then you can''t forget the break statements. Depending on your state structure you can do also use arrays of function pointers to do your evil with. That is if your state variable is always an int from 0 to 19 you can do:

typedef void (*function_pointer)(TObject *);

function_pointer animation_functions[20];
TObject * SpaceManSpiff;

int state = get_state(SpaceManSpiff);
if (state >= 0 && state < 20) {
(animation_functions[state])(SpaceManSpiff);
}

This really only saves computation time iff you call a function on your object in every branch of your switch statement.

Similar to the post SiCrane posted...

// function pointer
typedef void (*function_pointer)(TObject *);
function_pointer animation_function;

// functions
void doSomethingB(TObject *);
void doSomethingA(TObject *) {
// process TObject
if (state_change) {
function_pointer = doSomethingB;
}
}
void doSomethingB(TObject *) {
// process TObject
if (state_change) {
function_pointer = doSomethingA;
}
}



TObject * SpaceManSpiff;
animation_function(SpaceManSpiff);



Of course, you run the risk of function indirection overhead. I''m unsure if a switch case is more cpu intensive than a virtual function though...