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  3. goto... Who uses it?

goto... Who uses it?

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  • 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 .

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    Stefan_Lang
    wrote on last edited by
    #94

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

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    • 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.

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      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.

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      • 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.

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        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.

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        • 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();
          }

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          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.

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          • 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.

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            tom1443
            wrote on last edited by
            #98

            Good luck writing any assembly code without it.

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            • T tom1443

              Good luck writing any assembly code without it.

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              Gary Huck
              wrote on last edited by
              #99

              Good luck getting me to write production assembly.

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              • 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.

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                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.

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                • 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.

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                  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

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                  • 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.

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                    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.

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                    • 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.

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                      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...

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                      • 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.

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                        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.

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                        • B BobJanova

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

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                          Joe Woodbury
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #105

                          Learned something new.

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                          • 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.

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                            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.

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                            • 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.

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                              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?

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                              • 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();
                                }

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                                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.

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                                • 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.

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                                  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
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                                  • T tom1443

                                    Good luck writing any assembly code without it.

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                                    Joe Woodbury
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #110

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

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                                    • 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.

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                                      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.

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                                      • J Joe Woodbury

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

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                                        tom1443
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #112

                                        That is why I alias goto to JMP!

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                                        • C Chris Maunder

                                          In SQL - fairly often to jump to the error handler at the end of our sprocs. I'll admit there's no good reason we do this, since it's easy enough for us to avoid this with if statements, but it's a pattern used in our original code and so for consistency we stuck with it:

                                          Create Procedure MyProc as

                                          Begin Tran
                                          
                                          -- Do stuff...
                                          
                                          if @@error <> 0 goto errorHandler
                                          
                                          Commit Tran
                                          Return 0
                                          

                                          errorHandler:
                                          Rollback Tran
                                          Return 1

                                          cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                                          Al Chak
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #113

                                          :confused:

                                          if (then) else

                                          - Is this "too match" for SQL?

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