The History, Controversy, And Evolution Of The Goto Statement

Andru Luvisi, Sonoma State University

Stevenson Hall 1300
11:00 AM - 11:50 AM

This talk will touch on how standard usage patterns for the Goto statement became embodied in higher level control structures, ways in which higher level control structures can often express the intent of the programmer more clearly than lower level control structures, ways in which programming in a restricted set of control structures can sometimes make programs easier to reason about and prove correct, some of the controversy surrounding the Goto statement, common reasons for and ways of using Goto, and common ways of implementing arbitrary control structures in languages that do not contain the Goto statement.