OpenEuphoria

Re: The fate of Euphoria

• Posted by "Mike Nelson" <MichaelANelson at worldnet.att.net> Nov 08, 2004
• 536 views

> > PS CASE is very good, better than a bunch of elsifs.
>
> It's another goto in disguise. So is the elsif, for that matter. Picture
the little
> goto at the end of each elsif that executes in that stack of if-elsif-end,
where
> the goto points to the end of the stack.


On the assembly language level, yes it is. That is of no concern to the
programmer, however. This code

if x then
    do_1()
elsif y then
    do_2()
else
    do_3()
end if

or the equivalent case statements simply do not have the same power or
potential for abuse as goto:


if x then
    goto skip
end if
--- 50 other statements

: skip
-- 100 other statements


If you prefer, elsif is a constrained goto, while goto itself is
unconstrained, hence more powerful and more dangerous.

By the way, I program professionally in VB6 which leaves me no choice but to
use goto for error handlers. And I also use it occasionally when not
strictly required, as I find it convenient in some cases (Always error or
special case handling, 99% of the time in place of the non-available
continue.)

I never really miss it in Eu. I would use continue if it were
available--continue is a constrained goto.

-- Mike Nelson