I've made a simple little text-based game that implements an extremely primitive menu. For it, I have designed a small option menu for attacks. Before, it used to automatically move on to the opponent's attack if you happened to use the gun attack if you were out of ammo, so I fixed that by adding a goto function that reverts back to the option menu before the enemy initiates it's attack.

I've read in some places that goto is unreliable, and indeed, shouldn't be used in most cases. I was just curious as to specifically why this is, and what alternative could I use?

Oh, yeah, sorry!
I only used goto in one small section, since I don't have much need for it elsewhere.

[source lang="cpp"]void Combat::combatChoice(Character& C) {
if (C.health < 0 || C.health == 0) {
cout << "----------------- You died... ------------------" << endl;
cout << "Oh dear, it seems you have died... Game Over." << endl;
} else {
battlemenu:
cout << "----------------- Battle Options ------------------" << endl;
C.Display();
cout << "What do you want to do? \n"
<< "Type the number of the action and press enter. \n"
<< "[1] Melee Attack \n"
<< "[2] Gun Attack \n"
<< "[3] Health Potion" << endl;

short choice;
cin >> choice;
switch (choice) {
case 1:
cout << "\n----------------- Battle Results ------------------" << endl;
C.meleeAttack(M);
break;

case 2:
cout << "\n----------------- Battle Results ------------------" << endl;
if(C.ammo == 0) {
cout << "You're out of ammo! \n" << endl;
goto battlemenu;
} else {
C.gunAttack(M);
}
break;

case 3:
cout << "\n----------------- Battle Results ------------------" << endl;
if(C.potions == 0) {
cout << "You're out of potions! \n" << endl;
goto battlemenu;
} else {
C.useHP(C);
}
break;
}
}
}[/source]

Is goto a good practice?[/quote]
Is synonymous with

Is jumping into a volcano a good idea?[/quote]

You could implement your battlemenu separately and make a call to it when you need it instead of using goto. The thing about goto is that you basically get rid of every pre/post condition that a block of code should have. When you have an if else block that, besides having the two normal possible outcomes (if branch or else branch), jumps to another place with a goto in the middle, then nothing is safe anymore. You stomp over every "safety" that basic control structures should give to you when using goto to reach some place in the code. Its like having a carefully designed brake system in a car, only to go and smash it against a wall because you think you can stop the car faster by doing so.

Goto can also make spaghetti code. A lot of times what ends up happening is that your code is jumping from place to place, making it extremely hard for other people to understand what you're doing. It also makes it hard for you. (Example: Code an awesome enemy system. A month later you need to extend it. Go to look at it and it keeps on jumping to a bunch of places, and you don't understand it, so you scrap all your code.). Now, GoTo isn't always evil. There's an application for everything. However generally using Goto is frowned upon, and the problem you're solving with it can be solved by using object oriented programming.

I see. So basically, goto is really only a last-ditch alternative for when you don't need to go back and extend it all that much. The better thing to do would be to create a separate class specifically for the battle menu? Crap, another class I have to make...

Anyhow, thanks! I'll see how I can change it to a class, though I'm still not entirely sure how to split all the options into a class, so maybe I could get a couple pointers here?

Goto was really meant for use when inlining assembly or linking in outside binaries. I use goto all the time when using assembly, it simplifies loops when otherwise a conditional jump might not be necessary for infinite loops. When doing c++ in a purely OOP world, you should never use goto.

You don't need an object to get rid of your goto. Take a step back and look at what you're trying to accomplish. You basically want to loop when some condition is met, this is exactly what while/do while/ for loops are meant to do. You can make a function out of the battlemenu section, return true when you have to execute it again or false otherwise. Then you simply call while( battlemenu() ) {}.