To be honest, I do not have much experience with C nor BASIC. I only know the extreme basics of C, and I have never written a line of BASIC in my entire life. My first real exposure to programming was in high school (Java). From there, I basically went from high-level languages -> x86 -> high-level languages again -> starting to play with AArch64 in an attempt to but some grooves back in my smooth brain.

> My guess is that your ASM is inflected by structured programming everywhere.

I am not certain what you mean.

> if you go back 60+ years there is some scary code that even today's optimizers probably wouldn't emit because it's too crazy.

Why was this as common as the allegations lead me to believe? Was it just a product of time? No better way to handle such logic at the time?

As for your example, I know it is intended to be interpreted trivially, but I just want to clarify I understand you correctly. Is the issue due to locate-horizon depending on logic from a completely orthogonal operation?

If so, I see the red flag immediately. However, I do not see an issue with creating a separate function. I'd just have to be damn sure H was not storing anything used for some other upcoming operation prior to the function call, I'd check F and C for valid state (if necessary), take other potential side-effects into account, etc.

It feels a lot like the DRY advice being abused in higher-level languages, you know? I agree with expression, "duplication is better than the wrong abstraction."

> Was it just a product of time?

Same reason that nobody did the Fosbury Flop at the 1948 Olympics - Dick Fosbury hasn't shown this technique yet and it's not obvious if you've never seen it that this is a better way to perform an Olympic regulation high jump. Twenty years later, he does exactly that and wins Gold and by the 1988 Olympics this is how everybody does a high jump, but in 1948 nobody knows it.

Your instinct to "create a separate function" is exactly Structured Programming.