'while/else' (ugh) (was Re: [oclug] Ruby)

[Matthew Wilcox]

On Fri, Jun 27, 2003 at 04:27:30PM -0400, Patrick Smith wrote:
> OK, that makes sense.  I presume you also intend for the finally clause 
> to be executed even if the while is exited by a break.  So it replaces:
> 
> 	cleanup_needed = false
> 	while condition
> 		blah
> 		side effects
> 		cleanup_needed = true
> 		blah
> 	if cleanup_needed
> 		cleanup
> 
> Personally, I suspect this wouldn't be used often enough to justify 
> adding another construct to the language, given that it is so easy to do 
> otherwise.

Not only that, you often want the variable outside the loop anyway.  To
take the freeing memory example ...

if (condition)
	ptr = malloc(1MB);
do {
	stuff(ptr);
	condition--;
} while (condition);
free(ptr);

i'm really not sure how much there is to cleanup if you didn't have to
setup before the first loop iteration.  anyone got a real example?

-- 
"It's not Hollywood.  War is real, war is primarily not about defeat or
victory, it is about death.  I've seen thousands and thousands of dead bodies.
Do you think I want to have an academic debate on this subject?" -- Robert Fisk