0

is there a real world situation where using non-structured programming languages brings any advantages? I've read that non-structured programming has been criticized because it leads to a very low readability, but at the same time, it has been praised for the freedom it offers. So, is there an actual use for this paradigm nowadays?

angel208
  • 281
  • 1
  • 5
  • 15
  • I see non-structured programs every day on stackoverflow.com, and their usually part of a question that asks, *Why doesn't this work?*. ;) Where have you read these notions that non-structured programming is a good thing? Structure is not just about readability, but also about maintainability, robustness, and reusability, to name a few benefits. – lurker Mar 18 '15 at 19:13
  • By "non-structured" programming, i don't mean a code without an structure, or programs with bad structure because the programmer wrote it that way. I meant about the programming paradigm, the first form of imperative programming. – angel208 Mar 18 '15 at 19:56
  • 1
    OK, I see some of those attributes were written up in a very brief article in Wikepedia on ["Non-structured programming"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-structured_programming). The balance of creativity versus structure had long been debated, but only academically. In my opinion, they'd have to come up with more benefits for "non-structured programming" than just *freedom for the programmer* to make it something the industry would be drawn to. The industry is about efficiency, reusability, reduced cost, etc. – lurker Mar 18 '15 at 20:07
  • 1
    I should add that the definition of "non-structured" programming in the article does smell quite a lot like "code without structure". If it had some kind of defined structure, then it wouldn't really be "non-structured". It would have some constraints applied which lead to some benefit. That's *structure*, not matter what else it might be called. – lurker Mar 18 '15 at 20:09

0 Answers0