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From: Richard Riehle <laoXhai@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: exiting a bloc
Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 10:52:11 -0700
Organization: MindSpring Enterprises
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Robert Dewar wrote:

in response to article article <39B15EA8.88DB58AB@netcourrier.com>
                 by Mathias Dolidon <matd@netcourrier.com>:

> THe obvious answer is that a goto could be used, however, it is
> almost certain that if we saw the entire code we would suggest
> some other method. In particular, it is not at all clear why
> you are using a block at all, it appears useless but of course
> we do not have your entire code.

This raises another interesting question regarding Ada design style.   I
know of one manager
with responsibility for embedded Ada software who prohibits declare
blocks in the code.
In his mind, a declare block is an ad hoc construct that demonstrates
insufficient attention
to the overall design.  In particular, when one is tempted to code a
declare block, he insists
it be promoted to a nested procedure accompanied, if necessary, by a
pragma Inline.

His point-of-view evolved over many years of watching declare blocks
grow to cover several
pages,  become more convulted with the nesting of additional declare
blocks during program
maintenance, and transmogrify into long passages of increasingly
unreadable code.   It seems
the declare block may be something akin to the Q&D programs we used to
write (waddaya
mean "used to", cries the chorus) where sloppy coding style was OK
because the program
was "small and no one would ever want to used it again anyway."

So, are declare blocks, echoing the ancient Jeremiad of Dijkstra,
"considered dangerous" ?

Richard Riehle