# Easier way to write if else statement
**URL:** https://discourse.processing.org/t/easier-way-to-write-if-else-statement/17250
**Category:** Beginners
**Created:** [January 22, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/easier-way-to-write-if-else-statement/17250 "2020-01-22T14:41:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MikkelS](https://discourse.processing.org/u/MikkelS)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/easier-way-to-write-if-else-statement/17250/1 "2020-01-22T14:41:34Z")
Hey, I was just wondering if there exists an easier way to write the following code?
```auto
if (lives == 3) { //
image(heart, heartX1, heartY, heartWH, heartWH);
image(heart, heartX2, heartY, heartWH, heartWH);
image(heart, heartX3, heartY, heartWH, heartWH);
} else if (lives == 2) {
image(heart, heartX1, heartY, heartWH, heartWH);
image(heart, heartX2, heartY, heartWH, heartWH);
} else if (lives == 1) {
image(heart, heartX1, heartY, heartWH, heartWH);
}
```
---
### Author:  [@GoToLoop](https://discourse.processing.org/u/GoToLoop)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2020, 2:46pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/easier-way-to-write-if-else-statement/17250/2 "2020-01-22T14:46:21Z")
[Processing.org/reference/switch.html](http://Processing.org/reference/switch.html)
---
### Author:  [@Chrisir](https://discourse.processing.org/u/Chrisir)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2020, 2:55pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/easier-way-to-write-if-else-statement/17250/3 "2020-01-22T14:55:09Z")
Hello,
and welcome to the forum! Nice to have you here!
The command if() can be replaced with `switch()` (in this case).
**Approach with a For-loop**
In this case: You could also use a for-loop
```auto
for(int i=0; i<=lives; i++)
image(heart, (heartX1-15) + i*(heartWH+12) , heartY , heartWH, heartWH);
```
This for-loop
- uses `lives` as upper bound (`i<=lives`), so that the number of loops is determined by the variable lives (how many hearts we see)
- uses i to calculate the x position for each heart: `(heartX1-15) + i*(heartWH+12)`. This can be simplified.
**Remark**
I would recommend to use image only with 3, not with 5 parameters. This slows things down. Avoid this everywhere in your game!
Instead apply `resize()` command once to “heart” in setup().
Chrisir
---
### Author:  [@MikkelS](https://discourse.processing.org/u/MikkelS)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/easier-way-to-write-if-else-statement/17250/4 "2020-01-22T15:02:05Z")
Thank you it was the for loop approach i was looking for
---
### Author:  [@MikkelS](https://discourse.processing.org/u/MikkelS)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/easier-way-to-write-if-else-statement/17250/5 "2020-01-22T15:16:01Z")
Tried the resize function for my graphic, unfortunately it seems to apply anti-aliasing even though no smooth is on
---
### Author:  [@Chrisir](https://discourse.processing.org/u/Chrisir)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/easier-way-to-write-if-else-statement/17250/6 "2020-01-22T15:56:51Z")
Oh, I didn’t know that.
Still image() with 5 parameters is much slower.
Maybe you can copy images and change in external graphics program
---
### Author:  [@glv](https://discourse.processing.org/u/glv)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2020, 9:44pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/easier-way-to-write-if-else-statement/17250/7 "2020-02-02T21:44:09Z")
Hello,
Welcome to the Processing forum.
This is my first pass at this:
```auto
int [] x = {100, 200, 300};
int [] y = {300, 200, 100};
int lives = 3;
for (int i = 0; i < lives; i++)
{
xl = x[i];
yl = y[i];
image(image1, xl, yl);
}
```
(xl, yl) can be anything you want; I put data into an array for testing only.
Update: I did not realize I was answering this so late; I do not always look at other posts as this influences my “first pass” coding efforts. I will leave it…