alt Hacker NewsIt's a problem chosen by the author of Clean Code. How is it a strawman? The author of the article is directly refuting the style of the problem/solution that the original author chose, and arguably demonstrated a better approach. That is not a strawman.
Using `switch` is not a better approach if the design allows for outsiders to add their own shapes at a later time. Using `switch` probably is a better approach if the range is shapes is fixed and new shapes can't be added, especially if the language's `switch` statement requires that all valid cases be included.