Global variables (again)

Question

I keep hearing that global variables should never be used, but I have a tendency to dismiss \"never\" rules as hot-headed. Ar

Answer 1

"Why not": global variables give you spaghetti information flow.

That's the same as goto gives you spaghetti control flow.

You don't know where anything comes from, or what can be assumed at any point. The INTERCAL solution of introducing a come from statement, while offering some initial hope of finally being sure of where control comes from, turned out to not really solve that problem for goto. Similarly, more modern language features for tracking updates to global variables, like onchangeby, have not turned out to solve that problem for global variables.

Cheers & hth.,