Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!necntc!ima!haddock!karl
From: karl@haddock.ISC.COM (Karl Heuer)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: The D Switch Loop??
Message-ID: <2813@haddock.ISC.COM>
Date: 2 Mar 88 02:31:43 GMT
References: <many> <6548@j.cc.purdue.edu>
Reply-To: karl@haddock.ima.isc.com (Karl Heuer)
Distribution: na
Organization: Interactive Systems, Boston
Lines: 17
Keywords: switch loop
Summary: A proper switch is better

In article <6548@j.cc.purdue.edu> ksb@s.cc.purdue.edu.UUCP (Kevin Braunsdorf) writes:
>For a replacement for C why can't we make a switch statement loop?  We
>can make switch less of a hack in the lanuage.

That's a step backwards.  `if` and `switch` are for selection, `for` and `do`
and `while` are for loops; I see no need for a construct that does both.

Given the existence of a proper `switch` statement (one in which the cases do
not fall through into each other), your example can be written more cleanly:
insert a `for (;;)` in front of the `switch`, and remove the `continue`
statements.  The `break`, no longer meaningful to `switch`, now exits the
`for` loop.

(Personally, I'd probably write it as a `while` and a `switch`, so I wouldn't
need the `break` either.  This would require a temporary for the `switch`
parameter, but one usually needs that anyway when handling `default`.)

Karl W. Z. Heuer (ima!haddock!karl or karl@haddock.isc.com), The Walking Lint