> Didn't they know functions in 1987? ;) In all seriousness: only just barely. I entered the undergraduate C.S. program at the U. of Kansas in 1983. The facult

> Didn't they know functions in 1987? ;) In all seriousness: only just barely. I entered the undergraduate C.S. program at the U. of Kansas in 1983. The faculty were constantly saying, "We're doing structured programming now!" -- as if they weren't quite convinced yet, and needed to remind themselves. I think this letter does correctly point out that, while simple selection & iteration constructs are sufficient to do anything we want, concise, readable code requires more. And so now we have -- yes -- return, and also break, exceptions, etc. (I'm rather surprised that the idea of a multi-level break, which has been proposed for more than one PL, has never really caught on.) P.S. Perhaps we could title your comment " 'GOTO Considered Harmful' Considered Harmful" Considered Harmful.