Thread: Breaking out of a function properly?

So I decided to try a different approach regarding the code and before I show a few examples of my coding, I want to get back to one bit of 680x coding that has me scratching my head looking for a clean way to rewrite it.

There are seven instances in the code, where the subroutine (or function) is called, and if one conditional is met, it makes a small jump to the return call. If the conditional goes to the "else" case, there are a couple instructions that effectively discard the saved return address, followed by a jump to a completely different program section.

Here's what I mean:

Code:

  $FC80    LDA A   #$01
           STA A   $B7
           STA A   $C9
           LDA A   #$10
           STA A   $BE
           JSR     $F12C
           LDA A   $B7
           BLE     $FC96
           INS    
           INS    
           JMP     $EE0A
  $FC96    CLR     $C9
           RTS

So, if address $B7 is less than or equal 0, then it hops forward to the ending instructions of the subroutine / function, while the "else" case is the next instruction.

The two INS instructions nudge the stack pointer to tell the CPU to forget the subroutine it was currently executing and jump off to the code at $EE0A.

How would I approach this in C++ without risking the stack filling up with abandoned subroutine calls? I already have a rough translation ready to shine up into proper C++, it's just the jump that remains, and I can get several functions out of the way once i know the answer.

...I didn't realize there was that much difference between the variants - given how little I know about the C languages, I may have posted my original question in the wrong forum?

Regardless, as Arduino is a possible destination platform for this code I'm working on, I realize I need to make sure my code follows C++ and not just 'vanilla' C.

An alternate approach would be to copy the conditional out of the function into the main program flow. That'll be quite a task, as this little snippet of code alone is called up no less than 29 times.

Another routine alone contains no less than three of the breaks in question and is itself called 16 times.

Salem - THANK YOU for the prompt to look at the code at $EE0A...!

Had a light-bulb moment (and a 100-watt grin on my face atm)

I now realize what's happening - the code at EE0A displays a number I now realize (from the sparse documentation I have) is an error number, then the program flow returns to the top of the main loop.

I'm now 99% certain I know what I need to do, but first, a general question on conditionals:

Am I correct that:

if ( conditional ) label; is like a IF... GOTO in Basic

and

if ( conditional ) function(); is like a IF... GOSUB in Basic?

Not quite. The statement in C/C++ is also called "goto", but in lower case.

Code:

    if (x < 5) goto SKIP;
    std::cout << "Didn't skip." << std::endl;
SKIP: ; // label on an empty statement

That's an equivalent to an if statements using goto in C++. There's not much point in that in this century. C++ has more restrictions on where you can jump to than C did. A goto into a braced block that has initialization (like local variables inside the block) was undefined behavior in C but is disallowed in C++.

If you want a structured type of abrupt transfer of control, look into exceptions in C++ (if your environment supports them) or the setjmp/longjmp functions in C or C++.

The approach I plan to take within the function is to set the variable 'error' if the conditional is met that would have triggered the jump to the INS instructions, and use the 'else' part of the conditional for the 'graceful' return.

Then, upon returning from the function, I will add a conditional to jump to a section I will label errorTrap if the variable 'error' is NOT zero.

So, I'm thinking something like this:

Code:

int LB_FC80
{
var_B7 = 0x01;
var_C9 = 0x01;
var_BE = 0x10;
LB_F12C(); 
// the function at $F12C is a time delay
// Number carried from var_BE determines delay length
if ( var_B7 > 0x00 ) error = 0x0A;
// conditional operator and normal / else cases flipped for better program flow
// var_B7 is modified in the background through an interrupt-driven routine
else var_C9 = 0x00
}

Followup: I have now eliminated all seven 'emergency exit doors' from the code.

The more I dig, the more I am amazed the original code works as well as it did on the original hardware.