GOTO Archives - IT Jungle

Guru: Refactoring RPG – GOTO

August 27, 2018 Ted Holt

When I first learned COBOL, I coded loops the way all the programmers in my shop did — with GO TO. Paragraph names were labels, not routines. Then I took a class in COBOL and learned structured programming. I’ve never looked back. I wish other people felt the same way, because I don’t like to work on GOTO-laden programs.

Injudicious use of branching — in RPG that would be the GOTO and CABxx op codes — is a major reason I refactor. GOTO plays havoc with program “logic”, a word I hesitate to use in this context. The minute someone …
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Guru: Eliminate The Legitimate Use Of GOTO, Take Two

February 27, 2017 Ted Holt

I was annoyed that IBM chose not to support GOTO and TAG in free-form RPG calculations. I rarely used those opcodes, but when I did, it was in disciplined situations when nothing else would do. Besides, I didn’t want to be treated like a baby. Now it’s a non-issue. IBM finally provided an alternative to the last legitimate use of GOTO.

Almost five years ago, I wrote about a situation that I come across from time to time, namely the need to execute a clean-up routine before exiting an RPG subprocedure. Since nothing forbids a subprocedure to have multiple …
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