Software landmines and spaghetti

[gwinn@ma.ultranet.com (Joe Gwinn)]

It seems to me that there is an unspoken assumption in the long debate
about GOTOs and spaghetti code:  It doesn't follow that presence of GOTOs
makes code spaghetti, or that code without GOTOs is always clear and easy
to understand, write, and maintain.  

The issues are in my experience quite independent.  I have seen lots of
spaghetti code with nary a GOTO, and perfectly clear code with many GOTOs.

I would submit that good programmers write clear, simple code, regardless
of the nature of the language or language constructs used.  (With the
possible exception of APL, which was known as the write-only language.)  I
have seen the same effect in the design of digital hardware.  The key
issue is clarity of thought; lost-puppy engineers will do the oddest
things, at length.  It can be painful to watch, and hard on the engineer.

So, the whole 1970s debate about structured programming (and thus GOTOs)
reduced to the fond hope that if we tied the hands of those lost-puppy
programmers, they would no longer be lost, and would then plan ahead and
write good code.

By that same token, if we take a hard-to-use tool away from a rough
carpenter, he will suddenly become a cabinetmaker.


Joe Gwinn