do you use goto? [modified]

[Patrick Klug]

Hey guys, My former team mate used goto's quite often (to my despair). I just published a small post on when to (not) use goto on my blog[^] where I try to look at this in a pragmatic way. I am interested if you are using goto's (or know someone who does?). Opinions? cheers, Pakl PS: This is just a blunt advertisment for my blog so I can lure you into it and become rich and famous. :-\

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modified on Monday, May 19, 2008 4:44 AM

[Christian Graus]

I've never used goto, not once in 8 years of being paid for my code. More important, I've never once written code where I set out to avoid a use of goto. I've seen where it's used in error handling code, and it seems valid enough to me there, but I've alwaysh handled errors differently, and never felt that goto would make my code more readable. I've removed my share of gotos from code, I've never written one.

Christian Graus Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )

[Patrick Klug]

my story is similar. Never used it but as I said my team mate has. According to my observation its more a way of thinking than anything else.

Listen to the toad! www.dotnettoad.com[^]

[Vasudevan Deepak Kumar]

There should be a strong signage indicating "Use GoTo. GoTo Hell". Nothing to offend. But the catch is even while trivially using GOTO, we indirectly encourage new programmers following into the trap and then their laziness would make them succumb to that bad habit.

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[Vasudevan Deepak Kumar]

Pakl wrote:

my team mate has

We should encourage them to discourage themselves using GOTOs.

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A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them. --Leonard Louis Levinson

[Patrick Klug]

not an easy task... I fought the fight and I think he doesn't use it as often anymore but the cost was not worth it (in retrospective) - it is hard to change peoples opinion on something like that.

Listen to the toad! www.dotnettoad.com[^]

[Vasudevan Deepak Kumar]

Pakl wrote:

it is hard to change peoples opinion on something like that

Very hard to convince certain people. Sometimes we end up hitting or burning their ego and they would show a long guerilla face to us, for even trivia things. Certain things we should just ignore it off for the sake of team spirit, seamless cum systematic deliverables and benefit of the organization.

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A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them. --Leonard Louis Levinson

[phannon86]

I've said this before, but I was always told to avoid it. Back at uni, you lost 50 marks (of 100) for every use of goto. He never explained further as to why, other than it creates "spaghetti code", no particular justifications. But I've never used it and have never felt the need to.

He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man

[Dalek Dave]

As a Programming Newbie (still learning C#) I feel I agree with what I read in most of the Textbooks on the Subject. There IS a place for GoTo... It's place is to be found in textbooks, surrounded by the words "You must never use" and the words "in your code, they are messy and unnecessary". :)

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[Rocky Moore]

Of course, back in the day, I used the Goto to avoid repeated code or huge indentation. That said though with exception handling and what not, I have not "had" to use it in the last decade or so. But I still like the option of it being there just in case.

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[Dalek Dave]

Back in the Day? I used them on ZX Spectrums and BBC's but that was because there was little choice. (Okay, gosub, but that was little better). You could, though, have some control of Goto (as it was spelt then) by use of flags, but it was very crude and nasty. Some things DO improve.

------------------------------------ "I want you to imagine I have a blaster in my hand" - Zaphod Beeblebrox. "You DO have a blaster in your hand" - Freighter Pilot "Yeah, so you don't have to tax your imagination too hard" - Zaphod Beeblebrox

[Alsvha]

A few times for some testing/debuging purpose when I wanted to bypass code blocks. Never in production code (although I do feel it could be fun to litter some code with it, just for the heck of it :D)

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[Mustafa Ismail Mustafa]

A wise man once told me that if I used goto (and this was back during the day) then I had to rethink my solution. He was right.

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[Vasudevan Deepak Kumar]

Rephrasing it, "

If you plan using GOTO, you ought to GO-BACK and think again

".

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A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them. --Leonard Louis Levinson

[leppie]

Hi, my name is leppie, and I use goto occasionally.

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[Dario Solera]

I used it, but it was for a good cause. No, wait. It was because the language I was working with did not have cycle constructs. :doh:

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[Graham Bradshaw]

Christian Graus wrote:

I've never used goto

Not explicitly, anyway. If you've ever used a C break or continue, implicitly you have, since break and continue are simply goto's with an implicit label that is just outside or inside the current end of scope.

[Jorgen Andersson]

I don't use Goto and I get rashes when I see one. So, how about Exit/Break? Is that justifiable?

[Mycroft Holmes]

Alsvha wrote:

although I do feel it could be fun to litter some code with it, just for the heck of it

There is an evil person in there somewhere. If I found one of my guys using a Goto I'd haul them out into the light and display it a a case of what NOT to do. I thought it had been retired when we went to .net and was disgusted to see that it is in C#, and I thought VB was the only language inflicted with the bloody Goto.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

[Rajesh R Subramanian]

In a situation like this[^], I *will* use goto. And yes, I know what I'm doing.

Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself. - Cicero .·´¯`·->Rajesh<-·´¯`·. Codeproject.com: Visual C++ MVP