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--- simulating_20continue [2018/03/31 13:19] – external edit 127.0.0.1
+++ simulating_20continue [2024/01/05 00:21] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 =====Simulating CONTINUE=====
-//by Richard Russell, November 2012//\\ \\  Some dialects of BASIC (e.g. Visual Basic) have a **CONTINUE** statement, which continues execution at the next iteration of a FOR, REPEAT or WHILE loop. It is equivalent to jumping to the NEXT, UNTIL or ENDWHILE statement (i.e. it skips the remainder of the 'body' of the loop).\\ \\  The same effect may be achieved in BBC BASIC by using a GOTO, but obviously that isn't very satisfactory. A better way is to use a dummy REPEAT...UNTIL TRUE loop as follows:\\ \\
+//by Richard Russell, November 2012, extended April 2022//
+Many languages, including some dialects of BASIC (e.g. Visual Basic), have a **CONTINUE** or **CONT** statement, which continues execution at the next iteration of a FOR, REPEAT or WHILE loop.  It is equivalent to jumping to the NEXT, UNTIL or ENDWHILE statement (i.e. it skips the remainder of the 'body' of the loop).
+The same effect may be achieved in BBC BASIC by using a GOTO, but obviously that isn't very satisfactory. A better way is to use a dummy REPEAT...UNTIL TRUE loop as follows:
+<code bb4w>
         WHILE some_condition
           REPEAT
@@ Line 9: / Line 15: @@
           UNTIL TRUE
         ENDWHILE
+</code>
+But this still isn't ideal: the indentation is confusing and EXIT REPEAT now exits from the dummy loop rather than from the outer loop (if that happens to be a REPEAT loop).  Fortunately there is an alternative which avoids these shortcomings:
+<code bb4w>
+        WHILE some_condition
+          REM Do some things
+          IF next_iteration THEN ENDWHILE WHILE FALSE : REM CONTINUE
+          REM Do some more things
+        ENDWHILE
+</code>
+The **ENDWHILE WHILE FALSE** compound statement behaves to all intents and purposes exactly like CONTINUE.  The equivalent for a REPEAT loop would be:
+<code bb4w>
+        REPEAT
+          REM Do some things
+          IF next_iteration THEN UNTIL FALSE REPEAT : REM CONTINUE
+          REM Do some more things
+        UNTIL some condition
+</code>
+Unlike the WHILE case, however, this does have a flaw: it will not do the right thing if there's an EXIT REPEAT statement in the first part of the loop.  This can be resolved as follows:
+<code bb4w>
+        REPEAT
+          REM Do some things
+          IF next_iteration THEN UNTIL FALSE REPEAT EXIT REPEAT : REM CONTINUE
+          REM Do some more things
+        UNTIL some condition
+</code>