Re: Additional RPGLE Enhancement Requests

On Fri, 18 Jul 1997 15:24:47 -0400, Buck Calabro
<mcalabro@commsoft.net> wrote:

>The point of this discussion was to suggest possible ways to use structured
>code; to avoid the GOTO.  I understand that the *current* language definition
>requires me to have matched BEGSR ENDSR pairs.  I'm suggesting a change
>to that specification.
>
>Other folks in the discussion were suggesting a new opcode to "leave a 
>subroutine early."   I just thought that we already have a "leave 
>subroutine" (ENDSR) opcode; why not simply reuse it for the case when 
>we want to leave early?

Being totally serious here, do we also want multiple ENDDO/ENDIF ops
so we can terminate our loops and conditions early? The last thing I
want to see when looking at someone else's code is an END* when it's
really not ending, ie, not the end of the structure. The whole point
is to (easily) determine where a structure begins and ends. This is
even more important with fixed-format (non-indented) code.

In terms of programming logic, a GOTO *ENDSR or LEAVSR variant is
totally acceptable, it's the same implied thinking behind
LOOP/LEAVE/EXIT - we're terminating the structure early.

Some will comment that "if you code correctly, logic will fall through
to the end". In strict textbook/structured programming terms, that's
okay, but in terms of practicality I'd rather have LOOP/LEAVE/GOTO
with a comment stating why instead of conditioning everything in my
structures "just to" make it fall through. It can hamper readability
and maintainability.

In terms of the above, using GOTO does not lead to spaghetti code but
overcomes a limitation of the language. In this case, the need to exit
a subroutine early.

Loyd Goodbar
MIS Manager
Las Vegas Casino, Greenville MS
--
"I'm not cut out for menial labor." --Urd
lgoodbar@tecinfo.com  ICQ#504581  http://www.tecinfo.com/~lgoodbar/
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