[Oberon] [EXT] Re: Porting S3 / V4 Oberon (was: File transfer)

[Skulski, Wojciech]

Arthur:

>The intention was that EXIT and RETURN statements that occour
>somewhere before the very end of a procedure is bad programming
>practice/style. 

I know the intention was good. The road to hell is littered with good intentions.

>If the language restricts this, the source code
>becomes better in the same way as when GOTO statements are
>replaced with WHILE statements.

GOTOs are long gone and forgotten. It is not fair anymore to use the GOTO as a valid argument. Here we are talking of a community of mature programmers who know how to write good programs. Those who chose Oberon do not need to be sent to a correctional facility by force. A better way would be to deprecate certain features and to issue warnings. It would help preserve the legacy rather than waste it. The new code would then adopt the better programming style, if it was indeed better.

Improving anything by force is a dubious idea. A more gentle way would be more appropriate.

W