Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: gotos
Message-ID: <1988Apr10.000815.21756@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <2571@cognos.UUCP> <77200029@uiucdcsp> <4307@ihlpf.ATT.COM>, <2556@ttrdc.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 10 Apr 88 00:08:15 GMT

> ... do you guys believe
> that superfluous flags and great big if-then statements are truly superior
> to the goto? ...

Well, speaking only for myself, I believe that thought and organization are
indeed truly superior to "hack it together somehow", and that the former
approach seldom leads to gotos or "superfluous flags and great big if-then
statements" -- or to the *desire* to use either.  Don't confuse the symptoms
with the underlying disease.  The desire to use a goto is not an awful sinful
thought that should be suppressed, it is a warning that you've goofed.  The
proper response is not to kludge around it, but to stand back and re-think
the structure of the code.  (In emergencies there may not be time for this,
of course, but many things can be excused in an emergency... provided that
you go back and clean up the mess afterward.)
-- 
"Noalias must go.  This is           |  Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
non-negotiable."  --DMR              | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry