On Sun, 02 Sep 2007 09:34:09 -0700, "news@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"
<news@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>On Sep 2, 3:02 pm, Happy Trails <nom...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> Does BBCB allow labels instead of line numbers anywhere at all, or
>> only not as the object of a GOTO?
>
>The original BBC BASIC did not allow labels of any kind; destinations
>of GOTO, GOSUB, RESTORE etc. had to be line numbers. However since
>all the necessary control structures were present to write programs
>entirely without GOTOs, one was encouraged to do that. I never use
>GOTOs in any of my programs, and I have always felt that providing
>labels would encourage poor program structure.
>
>However there is one respect in which the absence of labels is
>limiting, and that is when converting programs from other dialects of
>BASIC. Replacing the labels with line numbers is undesirable, and
>rewriting the code to eliminate them altogether is extra effort.
>Therefore in fact you *can* use labels in recent versions of BBC BASIC
>for Windows but the implementation is minimal and not intended for use
>in new programs.
>
>Richard.
>http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/
>To reply by email change 'news' to my forename.
Are you not able to post in the same thread for some reason? Why do
you start a new thread?
========
No "original" Basic used labels of any kind that I know of, so BBCB is
not unique in that shortcoming.
It did not take long, however for the majority of vendors, not the
least of which being Microsoft, to realize how much more logical,
readable, and maintainable programs were with labels instead of
numbers. Why someone of your experience would still maintain to this
day the puerile attitude that software is "better" without GOTO's is
beyond comprehension, especially when they would be so easy to
implement.
Why not let the programmer choose what he wants to do istead of
thinking "you know better"?
Sometimes I use GOTO's to separate out logic so it is easier to follow
what's going on in a complex situation with lots of possibilities;
sometimes I do it to make things easier to trace; sometimes it is just
to simplify stuff so it is easier to do***ent, with it's own comment
lines.
I always want to see an exit from a SUB at the bottom of the SUB, and
not have to search for it up in the middle somewhere, tacked on to the
4th branch of a dipsy if-when-do pile of ****, where I had to put it
because I didn't have a GOTO.
When you take this ease of reading through your own or someone else's
code away, you might as well be writing in C, and not bother with
Basic altogether.
I almost started looking for that "send my 30 quid" page, until I saw
this nonsense.
Please tell me in plain language that my rant is for naught - that I
can use BBCB with all the GOTO labels in any new or old code that I
want with no restrictions!
What do you mean by "...but the implementation is minimal and not
intended for use in new programs"?
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