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Groups > alt.folklore.computers > #151108

Re: [Poll] Computing favorities

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On 2015-09-04, Rob Warnock <rpw3@rpw3.org> wrote:

> Andrew Swallow  <am.swallow@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
> +---------------
>| hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
>| > Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>| >> Perhaps, but I've seen Structured Programming zealots write some
>| >> pretty horrendous spaghetti code without using a single GOTO.
>| >
>| > So true.
>| > Or nested IF's five levels deep, with many ELSEs.
>| 
>| Their other trick was to use flag variables. Unless
>| the variable had a  useful name it reduced readability
> +---------------
>
> Let us not forget Bill Wulf's and Mary Shaw's classic
> rejoinder to Dijkstra's "GOTO Considered Harmful":
>
>     http://repository.cmu.edu/isr/192/
>     Global variable considered harmful
>
> published as:
>
>     http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=953355
>     W. Wulf, Mary Shaw; Global Variable Considered Harmful,
>     ACM SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 8 Issue 2, February 1973 , pp.28-34
>
> which pointed out that using only one mutable global
> variable, one WHILE loop, and one CASE statement
> [SWITCH, for C programmers], one can directly emulate
> any arbitrary spaghetti code graph without using even
> a single explicit GOTO.

On the other tentacle, I consider global variables to be a Good Thing
when used for global resources, e.g. file handles or pointers to
allocated memory.  That way you can have a common quit_cleanup()
routine that ensures that all resources are freed before exiting,
even upon abnormal termination.

-- 
/~\  cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ /  I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
 X   Top-posted messages will probably be ignored.  See RFC1855.
/ \  HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored.  Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!

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Re: [Poll] Computing favorities "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2015-08-29 14:54 -0400
  Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Andrew Swallow <am.swallow@btinternet.com> - 2015-08-29 20:12 +0100
    Re: [Poll] Computing favorities "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2015-08-29 15:21 -0400
      Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Bob Eager <news0005@eager.cx> - 2015-08-29 19:30 +0000
        Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2015-08-29 22:10 -0400
          Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Andrew Swallow <am.swallow@btinternet.com> - 2015-08-30 05:22 +0100
          Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2015-08-30 06:51 +0100
        Re: [Poll] Computing favorities jmfbahciv <See.above@aol.com> - 2015-08-30 14:58 +0000
          Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2015-08-30 16:02 +0000
            Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2015-08-30 14:06 -0400
            Re: [Poll] Computing favorities "hqhy" <hqhy@nospam.com> - 2015-08-31 06:43 +1000
            Re: [Poll] Computing favorities "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2015-09-02 15:03 -0500
              Re: [Poll] Computing favorities hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2015-09-02 14:02 -0700
              Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-09-02 22:46 -0700
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2015-09-03 09:36 -0400
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2015-09-03 07:29 -0700
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2015-09-03 20:01 +0000
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2015-09-03 13:25 -0700
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Andrew Swallow <am.swallow@btinternet.com> - 2015-09-03 21:53 +0100
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities rpw3@rpw3.org (Rob Warnock) - 2015-09-04 10:58 +0000
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2015-09-04 18:17 +0000
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Anne & Lynn Wheeler <lynn@garlic.com> - 2015-09-03 15:41 -0700
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2015-09-08 10:28 -0700
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2015-09-09 00:39 +0000
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-09-08 20:56 -0700
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Greymaus <mausg@mail.com> - 2015-09-09 10:12 +0000
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities simon@twoplaces.co.uk (Simon Turner) - 2015-09-10 08:35 +0100
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2015-09-15 18:26 -0400
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2015-09-15 18:27 -0400
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2015-09-15 18:28 -0400
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2015-09-09 07:02 -0500
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities rpw3@rpw3.org (Rob Warnock) - 2015-09-09 14:40 +0000
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2015-09-09 07:02 -0700
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2015-09-09 15:41 +0100
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Morten Reistad <first@last.name> - 2015-09-09 17:59 +0200
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2015-09-10 11:17 +0100
          Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Bob Eager <news0005@eager.cx> - 2015-08-30 16:42 +0000
          Re: [Poll] Computing favorities "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2015-09-02 14:56 -0500
      Re: [Poll] Computing favorities JimP <solosam90@gmail.com> - 2015-08-29 17:25 -0500
  Re: [Poll] Computing favorities scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2015-08-31 13:48 +0000
    Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2015-08-31 13:51 -0400
      Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Bob Eager <news0005@eager.cx> - 2015-08-31 18:17 +0000
        Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2015-08-31 16:04 -0400
      Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2015-08-31 19:12 +0100
        Re: [Poll] Computing favorities "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2015-08-31 13:42 -0500
        Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2015-08-31 18:53 +0000
      Re: [Poll] Computing favorities scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2015-08-31 19:10 +0000
        Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2015-08-31 20:09 +0000
          Re: [Poll] Computing favorities scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2015-08-31 21:00 +0000
      Re: [Poll] Computing favorities hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2015-08-31 12:15 -0700
        Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Andrew Swallow <am.swallow@btinternet.com> - 2015-08-31 20:31 +0100
          Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Bob Eager <news0005@eager.cx> - 2015-08-31 19:41 +0000
          Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> - 2015-08-31 22:04 -0500
            Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2015-09-01 18:46 +0000
              Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Walter Banks <walter@bytecraft.com> - 2015-09-01 15:38 -0400
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2015-09-02 08:13 -0700
                Re: [Poll] Computing favorities Morten Reistad <first@last.name.invalid> - 2015-09-03 00:17 +0200
            Re: [Poll] Computing favorities hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2015-09-02 08:10 -0700
          Re: [Poll] Computing favorities hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com - 2015-09-02 08:05 -0700

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