Re: GOTO considered necessary (reworked)

[dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)]

Wes says

<<Even more (unfortunately) common: 
  "An exception is basically a goto, so don't use exceptions."
-- >>


Another form of this I find annoying is "a return is basically a goto,
so don't use returns" (for example SPARK forbids the use of gotos in
procedures).

I personally find returns very handy, even though I know perfectly well 
they are gotos:

  procedure ... is
  begin
     if condition then
        do something simple
        return;

     else
       LOTS MORE CODE

it is very handy to read the procedure and immediately know that you
have the whole story if condition is true, without having to see if
there is some code following the end if.

I occasionally use gotos in a similar way, almost like an exception (and
some fanatics would insist on turning them into exceptions) -- you are
buried deep in complex logic, and you want to say

"get out, abandon all this stuff, this is not what we are looking for, go
and do something else"

occasionally a goto conveys this intention as clearly as anything :-)

\x1adp

(a little quiz, why do my messages occasionally end with ^Zdp?
 I know the answer, I am just wondering if it is obvious :-) :-)