Mail Archives: geda-user/2015/10/06/04:14:31
On Tue, 6 Oct 2015, Dave McGuire (mcguire AT neurotica DOT com) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com] wrote:
>> 'In their quasi-standard book on the C programming language, Dennis
>> Ritchie and Brian Kernighan warn that goto is "infinitely abusable", but
>> also suggest that it could be used for end-of-function error handlers
>> and for multi-level breaks from loops.'
>
> My opinion differs slightly. I don't like shortcuts and I'm not a
> lazy coder. Goto is a shortcut that caters to lazy coders. I get the
> point they made above, but I still avoid it, and I still label as
> "clueless" the people who don't.
Yup, our taste differs on goto, but it doesn't really matter. What
matters, is whether we represent our own opinion as our own opinion or as
someone else's.
>
>> So my impression is still that you generalize your opinion, this time
>> about goto, and imply other people have the same opinion.
>
> Ah, nice try, and a good interpretation, but that's not the thought
> process here. It's more a matter of just not caring about other
> peoples' opinions about such basic things, and trusting my own
> experience. Occasional validation from higher-ups is nice but not
> necessary at this point, and sometimes serves as a sanity check, but in
> general I know my limitations and I trust myself. This is not egotism,
Again, I have absolutely no problem with _your_ opinion on goto. What
caught me was the wording that suggested it was the same opinion of those
who invented the language. I really like to read about that era and I
couldn't remember reading any of the C-hackers claimed goto was ultimately
bad and should have been avoided or that they regretted adding it. So I
did a search but couldn't find any such reference.
> it's simple professional confidence borne from experience and knowing
> where the dragons lie because I've stumbled in and awakened them a few
> times already.
My simple professional experience borne under similar conditons differs;
but really, the point is whether we present our opinion or personal
preferec as such or we try to project it onto others. This has been my
main point for all these threads: I do accept you find goto and forks bad,
but this doesn't automatically means the "user base" thinks the same (even
if you are one user of that user base), or the designers of C thought
the same way about goto, and so on.
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