OpenEuphoria

2. Re: Naming of "continue"

• Posted by Derek Parnell <ddparnell at big?on?.com> May 11, 2008
• 672 views

Jeremy Cowgar wrote:
> 
> We can name it whatever. I do not really care, what I like is the
> functionality 

I too like the functionality, but the name is also important.

I vote for 'next'.

I think of it in terms of 'iterations'.

'next' (iteration) to me strongly suggests that the current iteration ceases to
execute and control is immediately given to the next iteration of the loop, using
the next value of the index/counter.

'continue' (iteration) suggest that the current iteration continues executing.

'repeat' (iteration) suggest that the current iteration is repeated using the
same index value.

'again' (iteration) is identical to 'repeat'.


-- 
Derek Parnell
Melbourne, Australia
Skype name: derek.j.parnell

4. Re: Naming of "continue"

• Posted by CChris <christian.cuvier at agriculture?gouv.?r> May 11, 2008
• 646 views

Jeremy Cowgar wrote:
> 
> We can name it whatever. I do not really care, what I like is the
> functionality 
> 
> The reason I choose continue was due to familiarity. Most languages that have
> such a keyword call it continue. I can see where either would work... i.e.
> 
> continue -- at top of loop
> next -- next loop iteration
> 
> But, taken literally, what do either really mean?
> 
> continue -- execution?
> continue -- with next token?
> 
> or
> 
> next -- token?
> next -- statement?
> 
> So, after thinking about it, I felt neither was a perfect name, but continue
> had on it's side name recognition. Neither was self evident but at least most
> people know what continue is. Other languages that have a next keyword are
> usually
> part of the for loop:
> 
> for 1 to 10 do
>   print "Hello"
> next
> 
> They are not put mid block, but are the same thing as our end for or end do.
> 
> Oh, I also did some research and I found several uses of function name next()
> for iterating through lists, tokens, etc...
> 
> Other possible names I came up with are:
> 
> repeat, again, hm... tried to come up with others with no luck.
> 
> Out of: continue, next, repeat, again ... I think repeat or again makes much
> more sense than continue or next. Here are definitions:
> 
>   continue
>        v 1: continue a certain state, condition, or activity; "Keep on
>             working!"; "We continued to work into the night"; "Keep
>             smiling"; "We went on working until well past midnight"
>        4: move ahead; travel onward in time or space; "We proceeded
>           towards Washington"; "She continued in the direction of
>           the hills"; "We are moving ahead in time now"
> 
>   next
>        adj 1: nearest in space or position; immediately adjoining without
>               intervening space; "had adjacent rooms"; "in the next
>               room"; "the person sitting next to me"; "our rooms
>               were side by side" [syn: adjacent, side by side(p)]
>        3: immediately following in time or order; "the following day";
>           "next in line"; "the next president"; "the next item on
>           the list" [syn: following]
> 
>   repeat
>        n : an event that repeats; "the events today were a repeat of
>            yesterday's" [syn: repetition]
>        v 1: to say, state, or perform again; "She kept reiterating her
>             request" [syn: reiterate, ingeminate, iterate, restate,
>              retell]
>        2: make or do or perform again; "He could never replicate his
>           brilliant performance of the magic trick" [syn: duplicate,
>            reduplicate, double, replicate]
>        3: happen or occur again; "This is a recurring story" [syn: recur]
>        4: to say again or imitate; "followers echoing the cries of
>           their leaders" [syn: echo]
>        5: do over; "They would like to take it over again" [syn: take
>           over]
>        6: repeat an earlier theme of a composition [syn: reprise, reprize,
>            recapitulate]
> 
>   again
>        adv : anew; "she tried again"; "they rehearsed the scene again"
>              [syn: once again, once more, over again]
> 1.	once more; another time; anew; in addition: Will you spell your name again,
> please?
> 2.	in an additional case or instance; moreover; besides; furthermore.
> 3.	on the other hand: It might happen, and again it might not.
> 4.	back; in return; in reply: to answer again.
> 5.	to the same place or person: to return again.
> 
> Notice a few: next #1, #4 (there were other definitions that did not apply at
> all to us, same as other words, so I did not include them). repeat #2, #3, #5.
> Again did not have a good definition on dict.org, so I got it from
> dictionary.com...
> again #1, #4
> 
> So, if we were to change from continue and loose the familiarity of it, I
> would
> vote for repeat or again, not next. next has all the same problems as
> continue,
> plus it is used in other languages as a keyword that does something different,
> and it's a common function name.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> --
> Jeremy Cowgar
> <a href="http://jeremy.cowgar.com">http://jeremy.cowgar.com</a>

The problem I see with repeat is that, in Pascal/Ada, it starts a loop with exit
test at the end, equivalent to the do ... while construct in C. Euphoria doesn't
have it, it would be convenient, I think, even though you can always emulate it
as

while 1 do
--...
    if exit_condition() then 
        exit 
    end if
end while

which would be more easily coded as

repeat
--...
-- until exit_condition()

again means: the _same_ thing another time. I'd use it to repeat the last
iteration, without testing or incrementing, ie something as much the same as the
current iteration. I called it retry.

CChris