do you use goto? [modified]

[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.

"Every time Lotus Notes starts up, somewhere a puppy, a kitten, a lamb, and a baby seal are killed. Lotus Notes is a conspiracy by the forces of Satan to drive us over the brink into madness. The CRC-32 for each file in the installation includes the numbers 666." Gary Wheeler "You're an idiot." John Simmons, THE Outlaw programmer "I realised that all of my best anecdotes started with "So there we were, pissed". Pete O'Hanlon

[Vasudevan Deepak Kumar]

Rephrasing it, "

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

".

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[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

[Philip Laureano]

Pakl wrote:

I am interested if you are using goto's (or know someone who does?). Opinions?

I only use GOTOs in IL or ILASM where it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, a standard 'if' statement is the simplest way to get things done.

Do you know...LinFu?

[Rajesh R Subramanian]

Actually, goto isn't *that* bad. In fact, MFC Framework code uses goto for handling initialization failures. But, I'll agree if you say that one will need goto very very very rarely. :)

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

[Lost User]

Quoted from Wikipedia:

"...In defense of GOTO statements, others have noted that the restrained use of GOTO does not necessarily lead to poor quality code, and also argue that there are some tasks that cannot be straightforwardly accomplished in many programming languages without the use of one or more GOTO statements, such as implementing finite state machines, breaking out of nested loops and exception handling."

The good old GOTO has not been eliminated from modern languages because it's useful. The quality and readability of any code does not stand and fall with the use of GOTO or any other thing. Both depend more on the knowledge, skill and dicipline of the programmer. Rules like not to use GOTO are supposed to help us with reaching those goals, but they are not religious dogmas and should therefore not be seen as such. Often I have seen really clumsy code when somebody went out of his way to obey some rule at all cost. But there should be one more rule: Think about what you are doing, use whatever suits the task best and give the rest of the world some hints by providing documentation and / or meaningful code comments. Then to use or not to use GOTOs would be less of an issue.

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[CPallini]

Yes, sometimes, writing C code. IMHO:"You must never use goto!" maybe a rule for the newbie, experienced developers can safely drop it. :)

If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
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[hairy_hats]

Yes, but I didn't inhale.

[Vikram A Punathambekar]

Rule #1: Don't use goto. Rule #2: Know when to break Rule #1. Personally, I haven't come across an instance where I had to follow Rule #2.

Cheers, Vikram.

---

The hands that help are holier than the lips that pray.

[Mustafa Ismail Mustafa]

So rare that its basically extinct?

"Every time Lotus Notes starts up, somewhere a puppy, a kitten, a lamb, and a baby seal are killed. Lotus Notes is a conspiracy by the forces of Satan to drive us over the brink into madness. The CRC-32 for each file in the installation includes the numbers 666." Gary Wheeler "You're an idiot." John Simmons, THE Outlaw programmer "I realised that all of my best anecdotes started with "So there we were, pissed". Pete O'Hanlon