Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Code Project
  1. Home
  2. The Lounge
  3. goto... Who uses it?

goto... Who uses it?

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Lounge
questionlearning
131 Posts 66 Posters 10 Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • J Joe Woodbury

    I would one step further since the ternary test is not only silly, it might throw an exception all on it's own due to text being null. If you KNOW something is "0", why parse it to 0? Why is an empty string valid? Is a null string valid? The code has other problems. Why create the file before you know whether there are any errors? Why set totalDelays and value back to zero? "its" is spelled "it's" in this context, but it should probably read "it was".

    D Offline
    D Offline
    DanielSheets
    wrote on last edited by
    #92

    Joe Woodbury wrote:

    I would one step further since the ternary test is not only silly, it might throw an exception all on it's own due to text being null. If you KNOW something is "0", why parse it to 0? Why is an empty string valid? Is a null string valid?

    I dont know its going to be zero. It could be any number and it will never be null. An empty string is valid because a previous version of this code used them. This version doesnt.

    Joe Woodbury wrote:

    The code has other problems. Why create the file before you know whether there are any errors?

    Because there are terminals that watch for changes in this file. If a parse fails then I have a partially written data file. This will cause several other terminals to report errors.

    Joe Woodbury wrote:

    Why set totalDelays and value back to zero?

    Because totalDelays is for each individual class in dataList. If it's not set back to zero then it will add up across all of the classes in the list. You're making assumptions here. Setting delays to zero is unnecessary. That was left over and can be removed.

    Joe Woodbury wrote:

    "its" is spelled "it's" in this context, but it should probably read "it was".

    Thanks for pointing that out. That grammatical error could cause the entire app to crash and burn. Good catch.

    J 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • D DanielSheets

      This isn't a programming question. Anyway... I find it useful in very few situations. It can make for cleaner code if used correctly. Of course, it can also be over used.

      C Offline
      C Offline
      Cesar de Souza
      wrote on last edited by
      #93

      It is often considered OK to call a goto from a deeply nested loop in order to terminate all loops altogether early, without the need of adding and maintaining several guard variables in the loop conditions. Of course if you can afford to place your loop in a separate function, you can also return from that, eliminating the goto but still doing the same.

      Interested in Machine Learning in .NET? Check the Accord.NET Framework. See also Haar-feature Object Detection (With The Viola-Jones Framework) in C#

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • A Andrew Torrance

        If we are talking of C# then I cant think of a time I would ever use it , although I am somewhat biased as I have told everyone in my team that I would slaughter a family member if I ever found it in any code .

        S Offline
        S Offline
        Stefan_Lang
        wrote on last edited by
        #94

        Who would put family members in their code? :wtf:

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • D DanielSheets

          This isn't a programming question. Anyway... I find it useful in very few situations. It can make for cleaner code if used correctly. Of course, it can also be over used.

          G Offline
          G Offline
          Gary Huck
          wrote on last edited by
          #95

          Been writing code since '85. Never used a goto in production code and I would have serious issue[s] with anyone who did.

          T J C 3 Replies Last reply
          0
          • S S Douglas

            His second stop was the bar, then other places and to write this post. I am assuming he is still enjoying the effects of the local bar. :)


            Common sense is admitting there is cause and effect and that you can exert some control over what you understand.

            G Offline
            G Offline
            Gary Huck
            wrote on last edited by
            #96

            My guess is he goes to those places often and with reason. Thus, other block controls would be more useful. E.g., while he is not at work he is in the bar, etc.

            S 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • J Jcmorin

              The goto is not required, you can always skip around with variable but sometime it's the best solution. In this example the goto is a clear simple example, remove it and you introduce less readable and more complexity.

              function BigFunction() {
              for (int i =0; i < 100; i++) {
              while(true) {
              if (...) {
              goto DO_SOMETHING_AT_THE_END;
              }
              }
              }

              DO_SOMETHING_AT_THE_END:

              DoSomething();
              }

              T Offline
              T Offline
              tom1443
              wrote on last edited by
              #97

              I think this example is pretty much the only justfiable use these days. I'm not ashamed to say that I use it this way occassionally. I much prefer that to deep nesting and multiple function returns. Multiple function returns often introduce bugs that could be avoided by using goto. But I'm wary of the religious wars against using goto so when I do use it I make sure I could justifty it in a code review.

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • G Gary Huck

                Been writing code since '85. Never used a goto in production code and I would have serious issue[s] with anyone who did.

                T Offline
                T Offline
                tom1443
                wrote on last edited by
                #98

                Good luck writing any assembly code without it.

                G J 2 Replies Last reply
                0
                • T tom1443

                  Good luck writing any assembly code without it.

                  G Offline
                  G Offline
                  Gary Huck
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #99

                  Good luck getting me to write production assembly.

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • G Gary Huck

                    Been writing code since '85. Never used a goto in production code and I would have serious issue[s] with anyone who did.

                    J Offline
                    J Offline
                    Jcmorin
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #100

                    see my example the message above your. If goto were that bad new language like C# would not have include it. It has a purpose, but it must be use in special case. Yes it can be avoided but something it the most clean solution.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • D DanielSheets

                      This isn't a programming question. Anyway... I find it useful in very few situations. It can make for cleaner code if used correctly. Of course, it can also be over used.

                      N Offline
                      N Offline
                      NAANsoft
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #101

                      There is the "goto" in C# switch. That I have used lately. Otherwise I regard break and continue as instances of goto: break is the good guy (forwarding) where continue is the bad guy (backwarding(!)). / Normann

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • D DanielSheets

                        This isn't a programming question. Anyway... I find it useful in very few situations. It can make for cleaner code if used correctly. Of course, it can also be over used.

                        C Offline
                        C Offline
                        Chris Boss
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #102

                        GOTO is a vital tool for programmers wanting to develop high performance applications. In my primary commercial product (a GUI engine used by other programmers) I use it over a dozen times. Even the likes of Alexander Stepanov consider it useful, so I am in good company.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • D DanielSheets

                          This isn't a programming question. Anyway... I find it useful in very few situations. It can make for cleaner code if used correctly. Of course, it can also be over used.

                          C Offline
                          C Offline
                          CDMTJX
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #103

                          Its been beaten into me over the years not to use GOTO's. Programming languages differ, but most have some sort of if / then / else that makes clearer programming than goto. Loops with leave / break statements, etc.. Even Fortran has these (I used it before it did)... I find indenting with GOTO replacements clearer to follow than hunting for GOTO's and their destination. Esp if you have huge functions. Even DOS batch scripting has if / then statements. Few years ago I cleaned up some messy batch scripts to make them readable...

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • R Rob Grainger

                            No they are not. Break is designed to allow breaking out of a construct in a predictable, limited way. OK, in generated code, the result is still a branch, but one is much less likely to lead to abuses of control flow, particularly with later maintenance.

                            C Offline
                            C Offline
                            C P User 3
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #104

                            Point well taken. The misuse of Branches (or Jumps or whatever a given syntax may use) is probably one of the factors that led to the abandonment of assembly language; my true love. ICEs with a good 32 instruction backward trace capability will almost always provide the debug needed. But that's a moot point these days. The "consensus" has decreed, and so I (and thousands of others) suffer. Sad.

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • B BobJanova

                              That ternary cannot throw. You're thinking of Java and its .equals nonsense. == won't throw for a null.

                              J Offline
                              J Offline
                              Joe Woodbury
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #105

                              Learned something new.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • D DanielSheets

                                This isn't a programming question. Anyway... I find it useful in very few situations. It can make for cleaner code if used correctly. Of course, it can also be over used.

                                T Offline
                                T Offline
                                TNCaver
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #106

                                The only place I can think where it might still be used in modern high-level languages is if one also adheres to the ancient (and out-dated?) principle that a function should have a single exit point. Sometimes making that happen without goto makes for some clunky, hard to read code with multi-level nests of IF blocks. My sig will confirm that I agree with you, though I haven't used goto since I abandoned QuickBasic some 15 years ago, and haven't written assembly in 20+.

                                If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • D DanielSheets

                                  Joe Woodbury wrote:

                                  I would one step further since the ternary test is not only silly, it might throw an exception all on it's own due to text being null. If you KNOW something is "0", why parse it to 0? Why is an empty string valid? Is a null string valid?

                                  I dont know its going to be zero. It could be any number and it will never be null. An empty string is valid because a previous version of this code used them. This version doesnt.

                                  Joe Woodbury wrote:

                                  The code has other problems. Why create the file before you know whether there are any errors?

                                  Because there are terminals that watch for changes in this file. If a parse fails then I have a partially written data file. This will cause several other terminals to report errors.

                                  Joe Woodbury wrote:

                                  Why set totalDelays and value back to zero?

                                  Because totalDelays is for each individual class in dataList. If it's not set back to zero then it will add up across all of the classes in the list. You're making assumptions here. Setting delays to zero is unnecessary. That was left over and can be removed.

                                  Joe Woodbury wrote:

                                  "its" is spelled "it's" in this context, but it should probably read "it was".

                                  Thanks for pointing that out. That grammatical error could cause the entire app to crash and burn. Good catch.

                                  J Offline
                                  J Offline
                                  Joe Woodbury
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #107

                                  DanielSheets wrote:

                                  I dont know its going to be zero. It could be any number and it will never be null.
                                  An empty string is valid because a previous version of this code used them. This version doesnt.

                                  int.TryParse((dgc.MATL.Equals("") ? "0" : dgc.MATL), out value))

                                  In the case of empty string, you know the result will be zero. If this isn't valid for this version, refactor the code and remove the check.

                                  DanielSheets wrote:

                                  Because there are terminals that watch for changes in this file. If a parse fails then I have a partially written data file. This will cause several other terminals to report errors.

                                  You miss my point. You don't need to create the file until you have added up the total count. You can still keep the rename in for the purposes you stated.

                                  DanielSheets wrote:

                                  Because totalDelays is for each individual class in dataList. If it's not set back to zero then it will add up across all of the classes in the list. You're making assumptions here.

                                  Huh? Oh yeah, I was right:

                                  DanielSheets wrote:

                                  Setting delays to zero is unnecessary. That was left over and can be removed.

                                  Fact is, you don't need the goto and were showed why. Instead of taking that and learning (as I did with the ternary and null) you became defensive. Turns out your code needs to be refactored anyway, so why not fix it right?

                                  D 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • J Jcmorin

                                    The goto is not required, you can always skip around with variable but sometime it's the best solution. In this example the goto is a clear simple example, remove it and you introduce less readable and more complexity.

                                    function BigFunction() {
                                    for (int i =0; i < 100; i++) {
                                    while(true) {
                                    if (...) {
                                    goto DO_SOMETHING_AT_THE_END;
                                    }
                                    }
                                    }

                                    DO_SOMETHING_AT_THE_END:

                                    DoSomething();
                                    }

                                    J Offline
                                    J Offline
                                    Joe Woodbury
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #108

                                    I strongly disagree. This calls for splitting the function into two, if not more, pieces and/or rethinking the algorithm. I've seen code like this cause way too many bugs when something is introduced in the middle of BigFunction which doesn't get cleaned up at the end.

                                    J 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • G Gary Huck

                                      My guess is he goes to those places often and with reason. Thus, other block controls would be more useful. E.g., while he is not at work he is in the bar, etc.

                                      S Offline
                                      S Offline
                                      S Douglas
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #109

                                      :laugh:


                                      Common sense is admitting there is cause and effect and that you can exert some control over what you understand.

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • T tom1443

                                        Good luck writing any assembly code without it.

                                        J Offline
                                        J Offline
                                        Joe Woodbury
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #110

                                        I wrote assembly for years and never used "goto". :)

                                        T 1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • D DanielSheets

                                          This isn't a programming question. Anyway... I find it useful in very few situations. It can make for cleaner code if used correctly. Of course, it can also be over used.

                                          A Offline
                                          A Offline
                                          Al Chak
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #111

                                          There is not an assembler program without GOTO. Fortran without GOTO is too hard. But in the real programming - GOTO is absolute unusable in all situations. Last 25 years, I did not write GOTO( expect assembler) and removed each one from reused code.

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Don't have an account? Register

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • World
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups