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From: Martin Dowie <martin@dowie-cs.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Software landmines (was: Why C++ is successful)
Date: 1998/08/25
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Date: 1998-08-25T00:00:00+00:00
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In article <35E1E74D.AF98CE26@lmco.com>, Mark A Biggar
<mark.a.biggar@lmco.com> writes
>Yes, there is, Pointers are the data structure equivelant of the goto statement.
>Multiple aliases can get you into worse trouble then goto's any day.
>At least a goto has an explisitly labeled target, while in most languages
>a variable with multiple aliaes has no marking what-so-ever.  Note, that
>Ada is one of the few languages that requires such marking with the 
>"aliased" keyword.

but the data structures that 'jacksonites' refer to are
the 'real world' ones eg. a report might consist of
a title page, plus a contents page, plus an iteration
of text pages plus an iteration of index pages.

also, can't see who you equate a pointer to a goto. eg

type ptr is access ...;

type rec is record
   int:integer;
   my_ptr:ptr;
end record;

here, the point forms part of a sequence. the thing
a pointer points to itself has a specific structure
which can be descibed in terms of sequences, selections
and iterations. i would have thought a better equivilant
of a pointer would be a subprogram.

anyway, suffice to say that 'jacksonites' tend to be the
biggest 'goto-phobes' in any office.
-- 
Martin Dowie