From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fac41,9a0ff0bffdf63657 X-Google-Attributes: gidfac41,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,9a0ff0bffdf63657 X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,4b06f8f15f01a568 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,9a0ff0bffdf63657 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public From: dewarr@my-dejanews.com Subject: Re: Software landmines (was: Why C++ is successful) Date: 1998/09/01 Message-ID: <6sfn8l$4vt$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 386659488 References: <6qfhri$gs7$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com> <35cb8058.645630787@news.ne.mediaone.net> <902934874.2099.0.nnrp-10.c246a717@news.demon.co.uk> <6r1glm$bvh$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com> <6r9f8h$jtm$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com> <6renh8$ga7$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com> <6rf59b$2ud$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com> <6rfra4$rul$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com> X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x11.dejanews.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 205.232.38.14 Organization: Deja News - The Leader in Internet Discussion X-Article-Creation-Date: Tue Sep 01 02:47:49 1998 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.eiffel,comp.object,comp.software-eng,comp.lang.ada X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/2.02 (OS/2; I) Date: 1998-09-01T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article , "Frank Adrian" wrote: > Matthew Heaney wrote in message ... > >A scanner is also another abstraction best implemented using gotos. > > A scanner is a well enough defined abstraction with enough well constructed > (and fast) implementations around that anyone trying to write his own from > scratch should be censured. > > [SNIP (of things that I agree with for the most part)] > > >Use gotos when they make sense. One time they do make sense is to > >implement a state machine, which requires transitions between states. > >This is typical for tasks and scanners. > > Again, the tasks you mention should be subsumed by code generators or > higher-level design packages, not wasting programmers' time wondering if > they got the goto in (and pointing to) the right place. > > Now the question is whether or not all "proper" uses of goto can be subsumed > by higher-level constructs (such as exception mechanisms, loop continuations > or breaks, etc.) which have much less of a cognative load than a fully > general and unstructured goto. I tend to think so. > -- > Frank A. Adrian > First DataBank > > frank_adrian@firstdatabank.com (W) > franka@europa.com (H) > > This message does not necessarily reflect those of my employer, > its parent company, or any of the co-subsidiaries of the parent > company. > > The idea that writing your own scanner is a bad idea probably shows simply a lack of awareness. The general tools available for writing scanners generate extremely inefficient scanners compared to what can be achieved if a scanner is specialized to a particular language. In particular, the whole notion of finite state machines is a red herring when it comes to constructing efficient scanners for particular languages. -----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==----- http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp Create Your Own Free Member Forum