[buug] On missing data

Bob Read unixjavabob at yahoo.com
Mon Dec 2 18:54:44 PST 2002


   Well...I was only trying to make Ian laugh.
   I'm actually a huge Java nut and a member of
SeaJUG.
   I actually believe that there are huge design
advantages in using try/throw/catch.  But there are
times when you must sacrifice "utopian design" to meet
the requirements (ie replace a bunch of java with C),
so it's important to think about how you would achieve
the desired control flow in a language that lacked
try/throw/catch.
   I came up with that joke because, evolutionarily
speaking, some control flow statements evolved from
goto.  This is extremely apparent with "switch",
"break", "continue", etc.
   Also evolutionarily speaking, some control flow
statements share a common ancestor with goto.  Such as
while(), for(), and
try{throw(Exception)}catch(Exception){}.
   Applying this to an analogy of mammalian evolution,
try/throw/catch is an orangutang and goto is a
chimpanzee.
   Then, I thought about a friend of mine who recently
"evolved" via a makeover and I thought:

> > When you get down to it, exceptions are just gotos
> > with more make-up and a push-up bra.

   Tonight on BART as I ride home, using the
relationship between for() and while() as an analogy,
I will prove that Monkeys evolved from Beatles.

Bob R.

--- johnd <john at jjdev.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 02, 2002 at 01:10:59PM -0800, Bob Read
> wrote:
> > 
> > > exceptions are evil
> > 
> > When you get down to it, exceptions are just gotos
> > with more make-up and a push-up bra.
> 
> What do you mean?  How is an exception like a  goto?
>  I can write code
> that throws an exception without even knowing about
> where or how the
> client will deal with it.  The client may not even
> deal with it at all
> and just throw it.  A goto always goes to the same
> place.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Buug mailing list
> Buug at weak.org
> http://www.weak.org/mailman/listinfo/buug


=====
-----------------------------------------
Bob Read
Exit Code Incorporated
cell (510)-703-1634
unixjavabob at yahoo.com
-----------------------------------------

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com



More information about the buug mailing list