batch-file Best Practices Spaghetti Code
Example
Spaghetti code means a code snippet that uses many, and often confusing structures. Such as GOTOs, exceptions and inconsistent code.
Examples and Solutions
Example A
@echo off
set /a counter=0
:Loop
set /a counter=%counter% + 1
echo %counter%
if %counter% equ 10 goto :exit
goto :Loop
:exit
This program comes with plenty of jumps, making us harder to know what exactly the script is doing.
Solution A
@echo off
for /l %%G in (0,1,10) echo %%G
Using less GOTOs, we reduced the amount of code greatly, and we can focus on the actual code.
Example B
Consider the following statements.
:endGame
if %player1Score% gtr %player2Score% goto :player1wins
if %player1Score% lss %player2Score% goto :player2wins
goto :tie
:player1wins
echo player 1 wins
goto :eof
:player2wins
echo player 2 wins
goto :eof
:tie
echo tie
goto :eof
This snippet requires lots of goto statements and can be confusing to debug. To simplify these statements, we can use call command. Here is the above script at a better condition.
:endGame
if %player1Score% gtr %player2Score% call :message player 1 wins
if %player1Score% lss %player2Score% call :message player 2 wins
if %player1Score% equ %player2Score% call :message tie
goto :eof
:message
echo %*
goto :eof
Both scripts output the exact same result, but the new script is much shorter and clearer.
