RE: Is this the Free-Format that we asked for?

GOTOs cannot be universally removed unless you substitute a new variable -
this is not my opinion, it is provable fact.  I don't really care about the
new variable per se but it means that old code containing GOTOs cannot be
automatically migrated to the new format - someone has to manually go in and
either make the change or, at least, review the work of a tool.  GOTOs can
be pernicious but if you remove them from the language, you have to do more
work to use the new language spec.  I personally think that they should be
left in.  There are things that GOTO does better than anything else.  If
someone else is afflicted with bad GOTO programming, it is not so much the
fault of the statement as the fault of the design or "the eye of the
beholder".

Richard Jackson
Richard Jackson and Associates Ltd.
IBM Business Partner
mailto:richardjackson@richardjackson.net
http://www.richardjacksonltd.com
Telephone: 1 (303) 808-8058


-|-----Original Message-----
-|From: owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com [mailto:owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com]On
-|Behalf Of Eric N. Wilson
-|Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2000 1:45 AM
-|To: RPG400-L
-|Subject: Re: Is this the Free-Format that we asked for?
-|
-|
-|Hello John,
-|
-|You wrote:
-|
-|> I'd like you to take notice of the semi-colon at the end of
-|each statement.
-|> According to the new rules, each program statement MUST terminate with a
-|> semi-colon - ala C/Java.
-|
-|I personally have no problem with explicit statement terminators.
-|The reason they are incorporated into a language is that it makes it
-|much easier to write the compiler.
-|
-|As far as goto's are concerned I am GLAD GLAD GLAD that they are gone
-|:-) If one takes advantage of functions and modular programming then
-|the need for goto statements decreases dramatically.
-|
-|
-|
-|----------------------------------
-|Eric N. Wilson
-|President
-|Doulos Software and Computer Services
-|
-|
-|+---
-|| This is the RPG/400 Mailing List!
-|| To submit a new message, send your mail to RPG400-L@midrange.com.
-|| To subscribe to this list send email to RPG400-L-SUB@midrange.com.
-|| To unsubscribe from this list send email to RPG400-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
-|| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator:
-|david@midrange.com
-|+---

+---
| This is the RPG/400 Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to RPG400-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to RPG400-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to RPG400-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---