Dictionary: repeat

[Richmond]

I was reading an incredibly tedious book about Visual BASIC 6 last night

[ left over from my M.Sc. in "Computers and IT" from the University of 
Abertay ] and

wondering about various things such as "step". Reading computer manuals 
is, in my experience, really great in the same sort of way banging one's 
head on the wall is: it feels just so good when it stops!

1. Funnily enough "step" doesn't seem to be listed in the 7.1.4 Dictionary.

2. I looked up "repeat" and found this:

                    repeat with myLine = 20 down to 1 step -2

and "there 'step' was!

3. But, as usual with me, the main point I want to make has not got that 
much to do with "step"

but a remark that struck me as rather odd in the "repeat" entry in the 
Dictionary:

*Note:*  It is possible to change the counter variable in a statement in 
the loop. However, doing this is not recommended, because it makes the 
loop logic difficult to follow:

   repeat with x = 1 to 20 -- this loop actually repeats ten times
answer x
add 1 to x -- not recommended
   end repeat

Why is that "not recommended" [I do 'that' all the time and have never 
had a problem] ?

4. Now to the "crunchy bit":

I have been telling the children who have been coming to Summer 
programming classes

for the last 3 years that they should do this sort of thing the way the 
Dictionary states is

"not recommended". If someone can explain in a way that makes reasonable 
sense, I will

give up doing that and teach them the other way from now on.

Richmond.