RE: Re(2): Is this the Free-Format that we asked for?

Mike, I agree with you.  A co-worker once showed me an example of GOTO
phobia expressed in the extreme....a program with 56 embedded IF/END
statements...maintainable only after lots of agony and time. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Naughton [mailto:mnaughton@juddwire.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2000 8:49 AM
To: RPG400-L@midrange.com
Subject: Re(2): Is this the Free-Format that we asked for?


Personally, I like the option of having GOTOs -- I prefer using them
judiciously to having a dozen END statements at the end of a long stretch
of code.

As for statement terminators in general and ";"s in particular, I'm not a
big fan of them. Their use in Java and Javascript may mean that we'll all
get used to them, but their absence in Visual Basic will mean that we'll
also have to remember whether they're needed or not. Personally, I'd
prefer an explicit "line continuation" character, so that the end of a
line is simply the end of the line, unless there is some specific
indication otherwise. Is there a reason why this is so hard for a compiler
to understand?

RPG400-L@midrange.com writes:
>John Taylor wrote:
>
>> If any of you have an opinion with respect to either of these
>limitations, I
>> urge you to speak up now. Once released, the chances of us getting this
>> changed will be slim for the GOTO, and absolutely NONE for the statement
>> terminator.
>
>I only use a GOTO once in a blue moon, but I think it should still be
>there.  I most emphatically do not want to code a ; at the end of each
>line.
>
>-- 
>-Jeff
>The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily 
>the opinion of my company.  Unless I say so.


Mike Naughton
Senior Programmer/Analyst
Judd Wire, Inc.
124 Turnpike Road
Turners Falls, MA  01376
413-863-4357 x444
mnaughton@juddwire.com


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