The GOTO approach is better, so long as the FSM is abstracted away. An FSM implemented as GOTOs is great. An FSM + state internals implemented with GOTOs is a d

The GOTO approach is better, so long as the FSM is abstracted away. An FSM implemented as GOTOs is great. An FSM + state internals implemented with GOTOs is a disaster. You don't want to mix the FSM with the internals of the states. For example: STATE_1: result = state1.action(); if result == A THEN GOTO STATE_2 if result == B THEN GOTO STATE_7 Is okay. Complex internal logic is not: STATE_1: [ton of actions and logic] if [ton of logic] THEN GOTO STATE_2 if [ton of logic] THEN GOTO STATE_7 If your states are more complex than that, it's a mess. Or if your language supports it: STATE_1: NEXT_STATE = state1.action() GOTO NEXT_STATE Again, modern language support is horrible for this sort of thing. You can go one step up and make a generic FSM, with e.g. a Python dictionary of functions which return future states: while True: state = STATES[state.action()]