State machines and Goto's (was Re: Should internet support software be written in Ada?)

[eachus@spectre.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus)]

In article <1995Mar27.113400@di.epfl.ch> Robb.Nebbe@di.epfl.ch (Robb Nebbe) writes:

  > Now a permanent transfer of control is almost never what you want. The
  > only use I have found is in implementing state machines but even then
  > a goto is not always the best solution. If you need access to state
  > information then you should probably not use gotos.

   The only goto's I have ever used in Ada, PL/I, Algol, etc. have
been either in compiler testing or in state machines.  (The former is,
of course, no reason to include them in a language.)  So AFAIK, the
only legitimate use of gotos are in state machines.

   Of course, compiler builders are among the most prolific users and
builders of state machines, so compiler builders want to retain gotos.
The question is does that justify their inclusion in modern
programming languages?  My guess is that the answer is no, but that it
is a close call.  However, the cost to implement gotos is small, and
compiler writers will always voluteer to pay it.



--

					Robert I. Eachus

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