How to jump in java - java

I have a code like this
public class Test
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
continue s;
System.out.println("I am not supposed to print this");
s:
System.out.println("I am suppose to print this");
}
}
I get the error
java: undefined label: s
What is wrong ?

Basically, there is no practical way to do that in Java. You appear to be trying to do the equivalent of a "goto", and that is not supported in Java. The break label and continue label statements can only branch to an enclosing labelled statement.
Now according to the Java formal grammar you could write this:
s: {
continue s;
System.out.println("I am not supposed to print this");
}
System.out.println("I am suppose to print this");
but that still won't compile for two reasons:
The continue is only allowed to branch to a label on a loop statement. (A break doesn't have that restriction ... but ...)
The continue (or a break) makes the next statement unreachable.
See also: Alternative to a goto statement in Java
But there is one rather tricky way to get your code to "work":
static final boolean flag = true; // class attribute ...
...
s: {
if (flag) break s;
System.out.println("I am not supposed to print this");
}
System.out.println("I am suppose to print this");
The "test" there will be evaluated by the compiler so that the break is effectively unconditional. But the JLS says that the first println will be treated as reachable, so that you won't get an unreachable code error.
I guess this might be useful if you are generating this source code. Apart from that, it is (IMO) just a curiosity. It is simpler to do this with a regular if / else statement ... or by deleting the first "print" entirely.

Jumping like this is not possible in Java, only way to jump is from loops, while and do.
What is the "continue" keyword and how does it work in Java?
Read #Heinzi answer
2.2.6 No More Goto Statements
Java has no goto statement. Studies illustrated that goto is (mis)used more often than not simply "because it's there". Eliminating goto led to a simplification of the language--there are no rules about the effects of a goto into the middle of a for statement, for example. Studies on approximately 100,000 lines of C code determined that roughly 90 percent of the goto statements were used purely to obtain the effect of breaking out of nested loops. As mentioned above, multi-level break and continue remove most of the need for goto statements.
The Java Language Environment, James Gosling
and Henry McGilton, 1996

There is no "goto" in java. And "continue" does a little bit other function. You can use "continue" for example in loops like:
class ContinueDemo {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String searchMe = "peter piper picked a " + "peck of pickled peppers";
int max = searchMe.length();
int numPs = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < max; i++) {
// interested only in p's
if (searchMe.charAt(i) != 'p')
continue;
// process p's
numPs++;
}
System.out.println("Found " + numPs + " p's in the string.");
}
}
In the example above, if for example searchMe.charAt(5) != 'p' then the loop will continue from the beginning of loop from i=6, and numPs++; will not be processed.
You can read more about this here:
Branching Statements

continue is a keyword in Java used to skip iterations of a loop.
If you are trying to find an equivalent to GOTO, you should reconsidering how you are trying to solve your problem, GOTO is never a valid option, ever.

As far as I know, there is no goto in Java (there is a keyword, but it has no meaning)

Theoretically, Java have Jump statements return and break.
The return statement jumps out of a method, with or without returning values to the calling statement.
The break statement jumps out of loops.
As mentioned in the earlier answers, goto is not available in Java, and is not considered to be a good programming practice in procedural or object oriented programming. It existed back in the days of sequential programming.

Related

Can you place if immediately after for in Java?

Eclipse lets me write some code like this, and doesn't show any errors:
for (SomeClass c : listOfSomeClass) if (c.someBoolean) {
// actions to take if someBoolean is true
}
Will this behave as expected, or is this not valid Java?
It's valid. The if will get repeated as many times as there are elements of listOfSomeClass. But that doesn't mean that writing Java like this is a good idea. Please don't ever do this.
You could even write something like
for (SomeClass c : listOfSomeClass) if (c.someBoolean) System.out.println(c);
if you were feeling particularly perverse.
However, when you write code, it's important to write code that another programmer can easily read, understand, and modify if necessary. Once a software system is in production, you can be fairly sure that changes will be required in it at some point in the future. What you can't be sure of is exactly what those changes will be.
So a good programmer, a professional programmer, writes his/her code in a way that makes it as easy as possible to change; and that means as easy as possible to understand. Now we professional programmers get used to seeing code laid out in certain ways. Curly braces used with for and with if, whether they're actually required or not. Consistent indentation. Intuitive use of variable names, and so on. Anything slightly unusual slows us down.
I don't want to be scratching my head, trying to work out how code works. I don't want to have to THINK about which lines are part of the for loop, or the if branch. I want code that tells me what it does, the first time I cast my eyes upon it. So, if you are EVER on the same team as me - or on the same team as any programmer who vaguely resembles me - then for the love of all that is good in this world, write this loop exactly like this.
for (SomeClass element : listOfSomeClass) {
if (element.shouldBePrinted()) {
System.out.println(element);
}
}
It works fine, but the formatting it likely to be confusing. Even you are not sure of what it will do. I suggest you use the standard formatter in eclipse to produce something like
for (SomeClass c : listOfSomeClass)
if (c.someBoolean) {
// actions to take if someBoolean is true
}
This is valid Java code and this is the same as:
for (SomeClass c : listOfSomeClass) {
if (c.someBoolean) {
// actions to take if someBoolean is true
}
}
Actually Java allows you to write a one-line statement after the for loop condition. Example:
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
System.out.println(i);
Note that this style is usually discouraged since it can lead to misunderstanding of what the code does.
Informally, the for construct has this grammar:
for (...) statement
Normally, statement will take the form {set of instructions each separated by;} but, of course, it's possible to omit the braces for a single statement.
Since if (...){ } is a statement, your code is valid.
But it is obscure though: at the very least adhere to an established convention and start the if on the next line with an extra level of indentation. I always use braces when writing a for loop but that's a personal choice and plenty of well-respected coders don't.
yes it can be done,the if loop
if (c.someBoolean) {
// actions to take if someBoolean is true
}
will be executed multiple times
What ever is there immediately after the for loop will be executed.
for example
for(int i=0;i<10;i++)
System.out.println("welcome");
is same as
for(int i=0;i<10;i++)
{
System.out.println("welcome");
}
So it will print welcome 10 times.
But this example
f
or(int i=0;i<10;i++)
System.out.println("welcome");
System.out.println("outside");
will print welcome 10 times and outside one time.
The above code is similar to
for(int i=0;i<10;i++)
{
System.out.println("welcome");
}
System.out.println("outside");
if you want multiple line execution in loop then you write it like this
for (SomeClass c : listOfSomeClass)
{
//multiple lines to be executed
System.out.println("print this awesome line");
}
now if you want only a sinle code line to execute accoring to the loop then you write it like this
for (SomeClass c : listOfSomeClass)
System.out.println("print this awesome line");
now this line can be any valid line of code
thus if condition is also allowed
if(awesomeCondition)
{
System.out.println("print this awesome line in side legendary if condition");
}
thus your final code is
for (SomeClass c : listOfSomeClass)
if(awesomeCondition)
{
System.out.println("print this awesome line in side legendary if condition");
}
which is equally compatible to
for (SomeClass c : listOfSomeClass)
{
if(awesomeCondition)
{
System.out.println("print this awesome line in side legendary if condition");
}// end of IF block
}// end of for loop
It is valid. If you do not use curly braces "{", then only the first command is executed. For example, if you had another command after the "if" block, it would not be a part of your "for" loop.
Example:
for (int i=0; i<3; i++)
System.out.println(i);
System.out.println("Hello");
will print:
0
1
2
Hello
and not:
0
Hello
1
Hello
2
Hello
The second output would be printed if you had the following code:
for (int i=0; i<3; i++) {
System.out.println(i);
System.out.println("Hello");
}
However, it is recommended to use the block statement.
If you look at the Java Language Specification of for you'll see (for the enhanced for):
for ( FormalParameter : Expression ) Statement
And the definition of Statement is:
Statement:
StatementWithoutTrailingSubstatement
...
IfThenStatement
...
StatementWithoutTrailingSubstatement:
Block
...
(I have left out some of the definitions)
In other words the statement in your question is equivalent to for ( FormalParameter : Expression ) Statement where Statement: IfThenStatement.
Now in general it is advisable to use a Block instead, or at least indent for better readability. Your statement is equivalent to:
for (SomeClass c : listOfSomeClass)
if (c.someBoolean) {
// actions to take if someBoolean is true
}
Or better yet:
for (SomeClass c : listOfSomeClass) {
if (c.someBoolean) {
// actions to take if someBoolean is true
}
}

What's the point of using labeled statements in Java? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Please explain the usage of Labeled Statements
(3 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
I'm busy studying for my certification and I stumbled upon a concept I've never even heard before - "Labeled Statements". e.g:
'label' : 'statement'
L1: while(i < 0){
L2: System.out.println(i);
}
So my question is.. why? How is this useful and when would one want to use something like this?
The only use that I'm aware of is that you can use labels in break or continue statements. So if you have nested loops, it's a way to break out of more than one level at a time:
OUTER: for (x : xList) {
for (y : yList) {
// Do something, then:
if (x > y) {
// This goes to the next iteration of x, whereas a standard
// "continue" would go to the next iteration of y
continue OUTER;
}
}
}
As the example implies, it's occasionally useful if you're iterating over two things at once in a nested fashion (e.g. searching for matches) and want to continue - or if you're doing normal iteration, but for some reason want to put a break/continue in a nested for loop.
I tend to only use them once every few years, though. There's a chicken-and-egg in that they can be hard to understand because they're a rarely-used construct, so I'll avoid using labels if the code can be clearly written in another way.
It can be used to avoid the need for a "not found" flag.
FOUND: {
for(Type t: list)
if (t.isTrue())
break FOUND;
// handle not found.
}
This is perhaps a misuse of labels, but you can use them to break without a loop.
LABEL: {
if(condition)
break LABEL;
// do something
}
It can also be used to confuse people, which is a good reason to avoid it. ;)
http://www.google.com
while(true) break http;
I used to use those as comment statements :) Jokes aside, it is like the Go to statements in basic, which allows you to jump to a line of code, ie during a deep looping structure...
Usage:
scan: {
int c;
for (firstUpper = 0 ;
firstUpper < count ;
firstUpper += Character.charCount(c)) {
c = codePointAt(firstUpper);
if (c != Character.toLowerCase(c)) {
break scan;
}
}
return this;
}
Here is an example of inordinate break that is likely to be missed out by the rest of the replies. It allows to break a loop within switch{} statement:
loop: for(;;){
int c=in.read();
switch(c){
case -1:
case '\n':
break loop;
case 'a':
processACommand();
break;
case ...
default:
break;
}
}
I think that they are required so that you can write Fortran while pretending to write Java. Without them, the aphorism Real programmers write in Fortran whatever language they are using might be invalidated.
As other answers have stated, labels are a seldom used part of the Java language.
But in your case some other things should be considered:
The labels are quite "generic" and are in fact line numbers: L1, L2, ...
The labels are not used in the code.
You are studying material for a certification.
This means, that the L1, L2 labels are simply line numbers. I assume, that the text explaining the code refers to that line numbers. In the same way some books and papers enumerate all mathematical terms just for referencing them in the text or to make citations easier.

Is there something like goto in Java? [duplicate]

I'm confused about this. Most of us have been told that there isn't any goto statement in Java.
But I found that it is one of the keywords in Java. Where can it be used? If it can not be used, then why was it included in Java as a keyword?
James Gosling created the original JVM with support of goto statements, but then he removed this feature as needless. The main reason goto is unnecessary is that usually it can be replaced with more readable statements (like break/continue) or by extracting a piece of code into a method.
Source: James Gosling, Q&A session
The Java keyword list specifies the goto keyword, but it is marked as "not used".
It was in the original JVM (see answer by #VitaliiFedorenko), but then removed. It was probably kept as a reserved keyword in case it were to be added to a later version of Java.
If goto was not on the list, and it gets added to the language later on, existing code that used the word goto as an identifier (variable name, method name, etc...) would break. But because goto is a keyword, such code will not even compile in the present, and it remains possible to make it actually do something later on, without breaking existing code.
The keyword exists, but it is not implemented.
The only good reason to use goto that I can think of is this:
for (int i = 0; i < MAX_I; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < MAX_J; j++) {
// do stuff
goto outsideloops; // to break out of both loops
}
}
outsideloops:
In Java you can do this like this:
loops:
for (int i = 0; i < MAX_I; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < MAX_J; j++) {
// do stuff
break loops;
}
}
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/_keywords.html
"The keywords const and goto are
reserved, even though they are not
currently used. "
So they could be used one day if the language designers felt the need.
Also, if programmers from languages that do have these keywords (eg. C, C++) use them by mistake, then the Java compiler can give a useful error message.
Or maybe it was just to stop programmers using goto :)
They are reserved for future use (see: Java Language Keywords)
The keywords const and goto are reserved, even though they are not currently used.
The reason why there is no goto statement in Java can be found in "The Java Language Environment":
Java has no goto statement. Studies illustrated that goto is (mis)used more often than not simply "because it's there". Eliminating goto led to a simplification of the language--there are no rules about the effects of a goto into the middle of a for statement, for example. Studies on approximately 100,000 lines of C code determined that roughly 90 percent of the goto statements were used purely to obtain the effect of breaking out of nested loops. As mentioned above, multi-level break and continue remove most of the need for goto statements.
An example of how to use "continue" labels in Java is:
public class Label {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int temp = 0;
out: // label
for (int i = 0; i < 3; ++i) {
System.out.println("I am here");
for (int j = 0; j < 20; ++j) {
if(temp==0) {
System.out.println("j: " + j);
if (j == 1) {
temp = j;
continue out; // goto label "out"
}
}
}
}
System.out.println("temp = " + temp);
}
}
Results:
I am here // i=0
j: 0
j: 1
I am here // i=1
I am here // i=2
temp = 1
It is important to understand that the goto construct is remnant from the days that programmers programmed in machine code and assembly language. Because those languages are so basic (as in, each instruction does only one thing), program control flow is done completely with goto statements (but in assembly language, these are referred to as jump or branch instructions).
Now, although the C language is fairly low-level, it can be thought of as very high-level assembly language - each statement and function in C can easily be broken down into assembly language instructions. Although C is not the prime language to program computers with nowadays, it is still heavily used in low level applications, such as embedded systems. Because C's function so closely mirrors assembly language's function, it only makes sense that goto is included in C.
It is clear that Java is an evolution of C/C++. Java shares a lot of features from C, but abstracts a lot more of the details, and therefore is simply written differently. Java is a very high-level language, so it simply is not necessary to have low-level features like goto when more high-level constructs like functions, for, for each, and while loops do the program control flow. Imagine if you were in one function and did a goto to a label into another function. What would happen when the other function returned? This idea is absurd.
This does not necessarily answer why Java includes the goto statement yet won't let it compile, but it is important to know why goto was ever used in the first place, in lower-level applications, and why it just doesn't make sense to be used in Java.
Because it's not supported and why would you want a goto keyword that did nothing or a variable named goto?
Although you can use break label; and continue label; statements to effectively do what goto does. But I wouldn't recommend it.
public static void main(String [] args) {
boolean t = true;
first: {
second: {
third: {
System.out.println("Before the break");
if (t) {
break second;
}
System.out.println("Not executed");
}
System.out.println("Not executed - end of second block");
}
System.out.println("End of third block");
}
}
No, goto is not used, but you can define labels and leave a loop up to the label. You can use break or continue followed by the label. So you can jump out more than one loop level. Have a look at the tutorial.
No, thankfully, there isn't goto in Java.
The goto keyword is only reserved, but not used (the same goes for const).
No, goto is not used in Java, despite being a reserved word. The same is true for const. Both of these are used in C++, which is probably the reason why they're reserved; the intention was probably to avoid confusing C++ programmers migrating to Java, and perhaps also to keep the option of using them in later revisions of Java.
Yes is it possible, but not as nice as in c# (in my opinion c# is BETTER!). Opinions that goto always obscures software are dull and silly! It's sad java don't have at least goto case xxx.
Jump to forward:
public static void main(String [] args) {
myblock: {
System.out.println("Hello");
if (some_condition)
break myblock;
System.out.println("Nice day");
}
// here code continue after performing break myblock
System.out.println("And work");
}
Jump to backward:
public static void main(String [] args) {
mystart: //here code continue after performing continue mystart
do {
System.out.println("Hello");
if (some_condition)
continue mystart;
System.out.println("Nice day");
} while (false);
System.out.println("And work");
}
Note that you can replace most of the benign uses of goto by
return
break
break label
throw inside try-catch-finally
As was pointed out, there is no goto in Java, but the keyword was reserved in case Sun felt like adding goto to Java one day. They wanted to be able to add it without breaking too much code, so they reserved the keyword. Note that with Java 5 they added the enum keyword and it did not break that much code either.
Although Java has no goto, it has some constructs which correspond to some usages of goto, namely being able to break and continue with named loops. Also, finally can be thought of as a kind of twisted goto.
To prohibit declarations of variables with the same name.
e.g.
int i = 0, goto;
It's very much considered one of those things you Do Not Do, but was probably listed as a reserved word to avoid confusion for developers.
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jvms/se7/html/jvms-6.html#jvms-6.5.goto
If you have been told that there is no goto statement in Java you have been fooled. Indeed, Java consists two layers of 'source' code.
See the following link is shows all java reserved words and tells you what versions they where added.
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/_keywords.html
goto is reserved, even though it is not currently used, never say never however :)
I'm not a fan of goto either, as it usually makes code less readable. However I do believe that there are exceptions to that rule (especially when it comes to lexers and parsers!)
Of Course you can always bring your program into Kleene Normalform by translating it to something assembler-like and then write something like
int line = 1;
boolean running = true;
while(running)
{
switch(line++)
{
case 1: /* line 1 */
break;
case 2: /* line 2 */
break;
...
case 42: line = 1337; // goto 1337
break;
...
default: running = false;
break;
}
}
(So you basically write a VM that executes your binary code... where line corresponds to the instruction pointer)
That is so much more readable than code that uses goto, isn't it?
Of course it is keyword, but it is not used on level of source code.
But if you use jasmin or other lower level language, which is transformed to bytecode, then "goto" is there
Because although the Java language doesn't use it, JVM bytecode does.
goto is not in Java
you have to use GOTO
But it don't work correctly.in key java word it is not used.
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/_keywords.html
public static void main(String[] args) {
GOTO me;
//code;
me:
//code;
}
}

Is there a goto statement in Java?

I'm confused about this. Most of us have been told that there isn't any goto statement in Java.
But I found that it is one of the keywords in Java. Where can it be used? If it can not be used, then why was it included in Java as a keyword?
James Gosling created the original JVM with support of goto statements, but then he removed this feature as needless. The main reason goto is unnecessary is that usually it can be replaced with more readable statements (like break/continue) or by extracting a piece of code into a method.
Source: James Gosling, Q&A session
The Java keyword list specifies the goto keyword, but it is marked as "not used".
It was in the original JVM (see answer by #VitaliiFedorenko), but then removed. It was probably kept as a reserved keyword in case it were to be added to a later version of Java.
If goto was not on the list, and it gets added to the language later on, existing code that used the word goto as an identifier (variable name, method name, etc...) would break. But because goto is a keyword, such code will not even compile in the present, and it remains possible to make it actually do something later on, without breaking existing code.
The keyword exists, but it is not implemented.
The only good reason to use goto that I can think of is this:
for (int i = 0; i < MAX_I; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < MAX_J; j++) {
// do stuff
goto outsideloops; // to break out of both loops
}
}
outsideloops:
In Java you can do this like this:
loops:
for (int i = 0; i < MAX_I; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < MAX_J; j++) {
// do stuff
break loops;
}
}
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/_keywords.html
"The keywords const and goto are
reserved, even though they are not
currently used. "
So they could be used one day if the language designers felt the need.
Also, if programmers from languages that do have these keywords (eg. C, C++) use them by mistake, then the Java compiler can give a useful error message.
Or maybe it was just to stop programmers using goto :)
They are reserved for future use (see: Java Language Keywords)
The keywords const and goto are reserved, even though they are not currently used.
The reason why there is no goto statement in Java can be found in "The Java Language Environment":
Java has no goto statement. Studies illustrated that goto is (mis)used more often than not simply "because it's there". Eliminating goto led to a simplification of the language--there are no rules about the effects of a goto into the middle of a for statement, for example. Studies on approximately 100,000 lines of C code determined that roughly 90 percent of the goto statements were used purely to obtain the effect of breaking out of nested loops. As mentioned above, multi-level break and continue remove most of the need for goto statements.
An example of how to use "continue" labels in Java is:
public class Label {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int temp = 0;
out: // label
for (int i = 0; i < 3; ++i) {
System.out.println("I am here");
for (int j = 0; j < 20; ++j) {
if(temp==0) {
System.out.println("j: " + j);
if (j == 1) {
temp = j;
continue out; // goto label "out"
}
}
}
}
System.out.println("temp = " + temp);
}
}
Results:
I am here // i=0
j: 0
j: 1
I am here // i=1
I am here // i=2
temp = 1
It is important to understand that the goto construct is remnant from the days that programmers programmed in machine code and assembly language. Because those languages are so basic (as in, each instruction does only one thing), program control flow is done completely with goto statements (but in assembly language, these are referred to as jump or branch instructions).
Now, although the C language is fairly low-level, it can be thought of as very high-level assembly language - each statement and function in C can easily be broken down into assembly language instructions. Although C is not the prime language to program computers with nowadays, it is still heavily used in low level applications, such as embedded systems. Because C's function so closely mirrors assembly language's function, it only makes sense that goto is included in C.
It is clear that Java is an evolution of C/C++. Java shares a lot of features from C, but abstracts a lot more of the details, and therefore is simply written differently. Java is a very high-level language, so it simply is not necessary to have low-level features like goto when more high-level constructs like functions, for, for each, and while loops do the program control flow. Imagine if you were in one function and did a goto to a label into another function. What would happen when the other function returned? This idea is absurd.
This does not necessarily answer why Java includes the goto statement yet won't let it compile, but it is important to know why goto was ever used in the first place, in lower-level applications, and why it just doesn't make sense to be used in Java.
Because it's not supported and why would you want a goto keyword that did nothing or a variable named goto?
Although you can use break label; and continue label; statements to effectively do what goto does. But I wouldn't recommend it.
public static void main(String [] args) {
boolean t = true;
first: {
second: {
third: {
System.out.println("Before the break");
if (t) {
break second;
}
System.out.println("Not executed");
}
System.out.println("Not executed - end of second block");
}
System.out.println("End of third block");
}
}
No, goto is not used, but you can define labels and leave a loop up to the label. You can use break or continue followed by the label. So you can jump out more than one loop level. Have a look at the tutorial.
No, thankfully, there isn't goto in Java.
The goto keyword is only reserved, but not used (the same goes for const).
No, goto is not used in Java, despite being a reserved word. The same is true for const. Both of these are used in C++, which is probably the reason why they're reserved; the intention was probably to avoid confusing C++ programmers migrating to Java, and perhaps also to keep the option of using them in later revisions of Java.
Yes is it possible, but not as nice as in c# (in my opinion c# is BETTER!). Opinions that goto always obscures software are dull and silly! It's sad java don't have at least goto case xxx.
Jump to forward:
public static void main(String [] args) {
myblock: {
System.out.println("Hello");
if (some_condition)
break myblock;
System.out.println("Nice day");
}
// here code continue after performing break myblock
System.out.println("And work");
}
Jump to backward:
public static void main(String [] args) {
mystart: //here code continue after performing continue mystart
do {
System.out.println("Hello");
if (some_condition)
continue mystart;
System.out.println("Nice day");
} while (false);
System.out.println("And work");
}
Note that you can replace most of the benign uses of goto by
return
break
break label
throw inside try-catch-finally
As was pointed out, there is no goto in Java, but the keyword was reserved in case Sun felt like adding goto to Java one day. They wanted to be able to add it without breaking too much code, so they reserved the keyword. Note that with Java 5 they added the enum keyword and it did not break that much code either.
Although Java has no goto, it has some constructs which correspond to some usages of goto, namely being able to break and continue with named loops. Also, finally can be thought of as a kind of twisted goto.
To prohibit declarations of variables with the same name.
e.g.
int i = 0, goto;
It's very much considered one of those things you Do Not Do, but was probably listed as a reserved word to avoid confusion for developers.
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jvms/se7/html/jvms-6.html#jvms-6.5.goto
If you have been told that there is no goto statement in Java you have been fooled. Indeed, Java consists two layers of 'source' code.
See the following link is shows all java reserved words and tells you what versions they where added.
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/_keywords.html
goto is reserved, even though it is not currently used, never say never however :)
I'm not a fan of goto either, as it usually makes code less readable. However I do believe that there are exceptions to that rule (especially when it comes to lexers and parsers!)
Of Course you can always bring your program into Kleene Normalform by translating it to something assembler-like and then write something like
int line = 1;
boolean running = true;
while(running)
{
switch(line++)
{
case 1: /* line 1 */
break;
case 2: /* line 2 */
break;
...
case 42: line = 1337; // goto 1337
break;
...
default: running = false;
break;
}
}
(So you basically write a VM that executes your binary code... where line corresponds to the instruction pointer)
That is so much more readable than code that uses goto, isn't it?
Of course it is keyword, but it is not used on level of source code.
But if you use jasmin or other lower level language, which is transformed to bytecode, then "goto" is there
Because although the Java language doesn't use it, JVM bytecode does.
goto is not in Java
you have to use GOTO
But it don't work correctly.in key java word it is not used.
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/_keywords.html
public static void main(String[] args) {
GOTO me;
//code;
me:
//code;
}
}

goto keyword in java [duplicate]

I'm confused about this. Most of us have been told that there isn't any goto statement in Java.
But I found that it is one of the keywords in Java. Where can it be used? If it can not be used, then why was it included in Java as a keyword?
James Gosling created the original JVM with support of goto statements, but then he removed this feature as needless. The main reason goto is unnecessary is that usually it can be replaced with more readable statements (like break/continue) or by extracting a piece of code into a method.
Source: James Gosling, Q&A session
The Java keyword list specifies the goto keyword, but it is marked as "not used".
It was in the original JVM (see answer by #VitaliiFedorenko), but then removed. It was probably kept as a reserved keyword in case it were to be added to a later version of Java.
If goto was not on the list, and it gets added to the language later on, existing code that used the word goto as an identifier (variable name, method name, etc...) would break. But because goto is a keyword, such code will not even compile in the present, and it remains possible to make it actually do something later on, without breaking existing code.
The keyword exists, but it is not implemented.
The only good reason to use goto that I can think of is this:
for (int i = 0; i < MAX_I; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < MAX_J; j++) {
// do stuff
goto outsideloops; // to break out of both loops
}
}
outsideloops:
In Java you can do this like this:
loops:
for (int i = 0; i < MAX_I; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < MAX_J; j++) {
// do stuff
break loops;
}
}
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/_keywords.html
"The keywords const and goto are
reserved, even though they are not
currently used. "
So they could be used one day if the language designers felt the need.
Also, if programmers from languages that do have these keywords (eg. C, C++) use them by mistake, then the Java compiler can give a useful error message.
Or maybe it was just to stop programmers using goto :)
They are reserved for future use (see: Java Language Keywords)
The keywords const and goto are reserved, even though they are not currently used.
The reason why there is no goto statement in Java can be found in "The Java Language Environment":
Java has no goto statement. Studies illustrated that goto is (mis)used more often than not simply "because it's there". Eliminating goto led to a simplification of the language--there are no rules about the effects of a goto into the middle of a for statement, for example. Studies on approximately 100,000 lines of C code determined that roughly 90 percent of the goto statements were used purely to obtain the effect of breaking out of nested loops. As mentioned above, multi-level break and continue remove most of the need for goto statements.
An example of how to use "continue" labels in Java is:
public class Label {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int temp = 0;
out: // label
for (int i = 0; i < 3; ++i) {
System.out.println("I am here");
for (int j = 0; j < 20; ++j) {
if(temp==0) {
System.out.println("j: " + j);
if (j == 1) {
temp = j;
continue out; // goto label "out"
}
}
}
}
System.out.println("temp = " + temp);
}
}
Results:
I am here // i=0
j: 0
j: 1
I am here // i=1
I am here // i=2
temp = 1
It is important to understand that the goto construct is remnant from the days that programmers programmed in machine code and assembly language. Because those languages are so basic (as in, each instruction does only one thing), program control flow is done completely with goto statements (but in assembly language, these are referred to as jump or branch instructions).
Now, although the C language is fairly low-level, it can be thought of as very high-level assembly language - each statement and function in C can easily be broken down into assembly language instructions. Although C is not the prime language to program computers with nowadays, it is still heavily used in low level applications, such as embedded systems. Because C's function so closely mirrors assembly language's function, it only makes sense that goto is included in C.
It is clear that Java is an evolution of C/C++. Java shares a lot of features from C, but abstracts a lot more of the details, and therefore is simply written differently. Java is a very high-level language, so it simply is not necessary to have low-level features like goto when more high-level constructs like functions, for, for each, and while loops do the program control flow. Imagine if you were in one function and did a goto to a label into another function. What would happen when the other function returned? This idea is absurd.
This does not necessarily answer why Java includes the goto statement yet won't let it compile, but it is important to know why goto was ever used in the first place, in lower-level applications, and why it just doesn't make sense to be used in Java.
Because it's not supported and why would you want a goto keyword that did nothing or a variable named goto?
Although you can use break label; and continue label; statements to effectively do what goto does. But I wouldn't recommend it.
public static void main(String [] args) {
boolean t = true;
first: {
second: {
third: {
System.out.println("Before the break");
if (t) {
break second;
}
System.out.println("Not executed");
}
System.out.println("Not executed - end of second block");
}
System.out.println("End of third block");
}
}
No, goto is not used, but you can define labels and leave a loop up to the label. You can use break or continue followed by the label. So you can jump out more than one loop level. Have a look at the tutorial.
No, thankfully, there isn't goto in Java.
The goto keyword is only reserved, but not used (the same goes for const).
No, goto is not used in Java, despite being a reserved word. The same is true for const. Both of these are used in C++, which is probably the reason why they're reserved; the intention was probably to avoid confusing C++ programmers migrating to Java, and perhaps also to keep the option of using them in later revisions of Java.
Yes is it possible, but not as nice as in c# (in my opinion c# is BETTER!). Opinions that goto always obscures software are dull and silly! It's sad java don't have at least goto case xxx.
Jump to forward:
public static void main(String [] args) {
myblock: {
System.out.println("Hello");
if (some_condition)
break myblock;
System.out.println("Nice day");
}
// here code continue after performing break myblock
System.out.println("And work");
}
Jump to backward:
public static void main(String [] args) {
mystart: //here code continue after performing continue mystart
do {
System.out.println("Hello");
if (some_condition)
continue mystart;
System.out.println("Nice day");
} while (false);
System.out.println("And work");
}
Note that you can replace most of the benign uses of goto by
return
break
break label
throw inside try-catch-finally
As was pointed out, there is no goto in Java, but the keyword was reserved in case Sun felt like adding goto to Java one day. They wanted to be able to add it without breaking too much code, so they reserved the keyword. Note that with Java 5 they added the enum keyword and it did not break that much code either.
Although Java has no goto, it has some constructs which correspond to some usages of goto, namely being able to break and continue with named loops. Also, finally can be thought of as a kind of twisted goto.
To prohibit declarations of variables with the same name.
e.g.
int i = 0, goto;
It's very much considered one of those things you Do Not Do, but was probably listed as a reserved word to avoid confusion for developers.
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jvms/se7/html/jvms-6.html#jvms-6.5.goto
If you have been told that there is no goto statement in Java you have been fooled. Indeed, Java consists two layers of 'source' code.
See the following link is shows all java reserved words and tells you what versions they where added.
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/_keywords.html
goto is reserved, even though it is not currently used, never say never however :)
I'm not a fan of goto either, as it usually makes code less readable. However I do believe that there are exceptions to that rule (especially when it comes to lexers and parsers!)
Of Course you can always bring your program into Kleene Normalform by translating it to something assembler-like and then write something like
int line = 1;
boolean running = true;
while(running)
{
switch(line++)
{
case 1: /* line 1 */
break;
case 2: /* line 2 */
break;
...
case 42: line = 1337; // goto 1337
break;
...
default: running = false;
break;
}
}
(So you basically write a VM that executes your binary code... where line corresponds to the instruction pointer)
That is so much more readable than code that uses goto, isn't it?
Of course it is keyword, but it is not used on level of source code.
But if you use jasmin or other lower level language, which is transformed to bytecode, then "goto" is there
Because although the Java language doesn't use it, JVM bytecode does.
goto is not in Java
you have to use GOTO
But it don't work correctly.in key java word it is not used.
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/_keywords.html
public static void main(String[] args) {
GOTO me;
//code;
me:
//code;
}
}

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