Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!shelby!msi.umn.edu!noc.MR.NET!gacvx2.gac.edu!hhdist From: TNAN0@CCVAX.IASTATE.EDU Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds Subject: RE: Using CLEAR in a program Message-ID: Date: 29 Jan 91 05:25:00 GMT Lines: 18 To: handhelds@gac.edu Return-path: To: handhelds@gac.edu X-VMS-To: IN%"handhelds@gac.edu" Ok, peraino... WHAT IF: You had a variable number of arguments on the stack (arbitrary number), your program had several error traps to detect things like user-entry-errors, argument-type-errors, etc... and it was imperative that you conserve memory and time. For example, no solution that takes 200 bytes or 5 seconds is worth the declaration "it's well structured..." The HP is a stack based machine... There is NOTHING unclean about using simple stack commands like DEPTH and DROPN to provide a quick efficient solution. However, if your program also DEPOSITS an arbitrary number of results to the stack, the DEPTH DROPN solution may not work... GULP... ---Xeno P.S. I'll believe GOTOs are unnecessary when I see a processor with no JUMP.