Mastering JavaScript Design Patterns

State

State machines are an amazingly useful device in computer programming. Unfortunately, they are not used very frequently by most programmers. I'm sure that at least some of the objection to state machines is that many people implement them as a giant if statement, as shown in the following code:

function (action, amount) {
  if (this.state == "overdrawn" && action == "withdraw") {
    this.state = "on hold";
  }
  if (this.state == "on hold" && action != "deposit") {
    this.state = "on hold";
  }
  if (this.state == "good standing" && action == "withdraw" && amount <= this.balance) {
    this.balance -= amount;
  }
  if (this.state == "good standing" && action == "withdraw" && amount >this.balance) {
    this.balance -= amount;
    this.state = "overdrawn";
  }
};

This is just ...