goto keyword in java

Question

Why is the goto keyword in java reserved though it is not used?

EDIT : Just to rephrase the question once again to avoid the ambiguity, I understand goto functionality is not supported in java and also understand that it makes code difficult to read. But its not supported, so then why make it reserved. It can be used as variable names atleast

Answer 1

So they could be used one day if the language designers felt the need.

Also, if programmers from languages that do have these keywords (eg. C, C++) use them by mistake, then the Java compiler can give a useful error message.

Or maybe it was just to stop programmers using goto :)

Answer 2

To prohibit declarations of variables with the same name.

e.g. int i = 0, goto;

Answer 3

Because it's not supported and why would you want a goto keyword that did nothing or a variable named goto.

Although you can use break label; and continue label; statements to effectively do what goto does. But I wouldn't recommend it.

public static void main(String [] args) {

     boolean t = true;

     first: {
        second: {
           third: {
               System.out.println("Before the break");

               if (t) {
                  break second;
               }

               System.out.println("Not executed");

           }

           System.out.println("Not executed - end of second block");

        }

        System.out.println("End of third block");

     }
}

Answer 4

Because 'continue' already satisfies the purpose

Answer 5

For no good reason whatsoever!

Answer 6

See the following link is shows all java reserved words and tells you what versions they where added.

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/%5Fkeywords.html

goto is reserved, even though it is not currently used, never say ever however :)

Answer 7

Maybe it will be like in PHP - they've added goto keyword in PHP 5.3.. So maybe it's only not yet implemented in Java (LOL)

Answer 8

Note that you can replace most of the benign uses of goto by

• return

• break

• break label

• throw inside try-catch-finally