continuecontinue

continuecontinue is a term used in programming discussions to refer to the concept of repeatedly applying the continue operation across multiple levels of nested loops. It is not an official language feature, but rather a descriptive phrase used in informal discourse and code examples.

Origin and context: The exact origin is uncertain; the term has appeared in online forums, code-golf communities, and blogs to illustrate how control-flow statements can interact across nesting. It is often used humorously to comment on overly complex loop logic or to discuss the limits of readability when multiple levels of looping are involved.

Technical description: In languages that support the continue statement, a single continue applies to the innermost loop. Some languages provide labeled continues that can target an outer loop. The idea behind continuecontinue arises when a sequence of continues targets successive outer loops, effectively skipping multiple levels of iteration. For example, in a language with labeled loops, you might encounter patterns like continue middle or continue outer to skip to a higher-level loop. Such usage demonstrates how labels and continues can control multi-level flow, but in practice it is often discouraged due to readability concerns.

Variants and related terms: Related concepts include multi-level breaks, labeled continues, and complex loop control patterns. The term is also discussed in relation to refactoring practices and how to represent loop-exit logic more clearly.

Reception: Critics argue that continuecontinue can hinder readability and maintainability. It is generally recommended to favor clearer structures, such as reorganizing code to reduce nesting, using early returns, or encapsulating logic in dedicated functions, rather than relying on multi-level continue patterns.

See also: Continue statement, Labeled statements, Nested loops, Code readability.