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From: tjr@ihnet.UUCP (Tom Roberts)
Newsgroups: net.lang
Subject: goto-s in programming-languages
Message-ID: <135@ihnet.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 12-Jun-84 16:53:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihnet.135
Posted: Tue Jun 12 16:53:54 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 13-Jun-84 02:01:34 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 18

Several articles have discussed the necessity of including goto-s
in (new) programming-languages. Others have said that you need them to:

	1) exit from deeply-nested structures (loops).
	2) handle error conditions efficiently.

I believe that a third reason overshadows these two: code generators.

I have written several pre-processors, for both FORTRAN and C, which
rely heavily upon using goto-s; avoiding goto-s would have enormously
complicated them. This is an appealing method for creating application-
specific languages quickly, and I think that a major component of the
"new wave" in computer programming will involve application-specific
languages. Leaving goto-s out of the underlying general-purpose language
would be a major mistake.

		Tom Roberts
		ihnp4!ihnet!tjr