Why Does Go Include the 'goto' Statement?

Go's Measured Use of the 'goto' Statement

Curiosity often arises around the presence of the 'goto' statement in Go, given its historical association with code obfuscation and flow complications. One might question why Google chose to include it.

Upon reviewing the Go standard library, we find instances where the 'goto' statement is employed judiciously.

For example, in the math/gamma.go file, 'goto' helps simplify control flow. Without it, the code would require additional variables and conditional checks, making it less readable and intuitive:

for x < 0 {
    if x > -1e-09 {
        goto small
    }
    z = z / x
    x = x + 1
}
...
small:
    if x == 0 {
        return Inf(1)
    }
    return z / ((1 + Euler*x) * x)
}

Here, 'goto' eliminates the need for a temporary boolean variable to track the flow, resulting in a more concise and clear code structure.

It's important to note that Go's use of 'goto' is constrained by specific rules. 'goto' must not jump over variable declarations or into different code blocks. These restrictions prevent the statement's potential for abuse while retaining its usefulness in specific scenarios like the above.

The above is the detailed content of Why Does Go Include the 'goto' Statement?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!