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Re: curiosity about compiler phases

From Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk>
Newsgroups comp.lang.c
Subject Re: curiosity about compiler phases
Date 2019-11-23 01:47 +0000
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <87imnb5poj.fsf@bsb.me.uk> (permalink)
References <9585199f-546a-46f8-ac2a-de27cc08a3f5@googlegroups.com> <FcZBF.211$rX6.122@fx22.am4> <PXZBF.74624$hh5.43882@fx07.iad> <dK_BF.12$LP4.8@fx40.am4>

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Bart <bc@freeuk.com> writes:

> Where a language has line continuation to split source across multiple
> lines, then it is highly unusual to allow that split in the middle of
> a token.

It's a comparatively rare feature altogether, but I don't think the
balance between the two ways of doing it it quite as dramatic as you
suggest.  In C, C++ and Fortran, line continuations are simply literal
line pasting, but what languages don't do it that way?  I think Python
and Visual Basic are two, but are there lots more?

In my view, if you are going to do it, doing it simply and entirely
literally makes it both easy to document and the more broadly useful.

> What is the purpose

It was useful whenever C was used in line-length limited contexts.  I've
seen it used when transmitting C over some early messaging systems, and
I imagine it was (any maybe still is) useful where file systems impose
fixed-length records.  The line breaking and reconstruction can be done
without any knowledge of tokens.

> other than it was just a side effect of the way the first C
> preprocessor happened to be thrown together?

Unlikely, since the mechanism you've been talking about was not in early
C.  I think it was first standardised (in the form that bothers you), by
ANSI C.

-- 
Ben.

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Thread

curiosity about compiler phases Thiago Adams <thiago.adams@gmail.com> - 2019-11-07 05:28 -0800
  Re: curiosity about compiler phases Nick Bowler <nbowler@draconx.ca> - 2019-11-22 19:25 +0000
  Re: curiosity about compiler phases "A. K." <minforth@arcor.de> - 2019-11-22 12:19 -0800
  Re: curiosity about compiler phases Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-11-22 22:22 +0000
    Typo? (Was: curiosity about compiler phases) gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2019-11-22 22:34 +0000
      Re: Typo? (Was: curiosity about compiler phases) Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-11-22 23:49 +0000
        Re: Typo? Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2019-11-22 19:26 -0700
    Re: curiosity about compiler phases scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2019-11-22 23:12 +0000
      Re: curiosity about compiler phases Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-11-23 00:06 +0000
        Re: curiosity about compiler phases Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2019-11-22 20:34 -0500
        Re: curiosity about compiler phases Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2019-11-23 01:47 +0000
          Re: curiosity about compiler phases Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2019-11-22 21:21 -0500
            Re: curiosity about compiler phases Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2019-11-24 03:26 +0000
              Re: curiosity about compiler phases Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-11-24 11:29 +0000
                Re: curiosity about compiler phases Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2019-11-24 16:49 +0000
          Re: curiosity about compiler phases Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-11-23 12:21 +0000
            Re: curiosity about compiler phases Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2019-11-23 10:08 -0500
            Re: curiosity about compiler phases scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2019-11-23 15:49 +0000
              Re: curiosity about compiler phases Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-11-23 16:21 +0000
                Re: curiosity about compiler phases Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2019-11-24 03:37 +0000
                Re: curiosity about compiler phases Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-11-24 11:25 +0000
                Re: curiosity about compiler phases Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-11-25 14:06 +0000
    Re: curiosity about compiler phases Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2019-11-22 21:25 -0800
      Beyond our pay grade (Was: curiosity about compiler phases) gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2019-11-23 07:43 +0000
    Re: curiosity about compiler phases Thiago Adams <thiago.adams@gmail.com> - 2019-11-23 06:28 -0800
      Re: curiosity about compiler phases Thiago Adams <thiago.adams@gmail.com> - 2019-11-23 06:39 -0800
      Re: curiosity about compiler phases Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> - 2019-11-23 09:46 -0500
        Re: curiosity about compiler phases Richard Damon <Richard@Damon-Family.org> - 2019-11-23 10:16 -0500
      Re: curiosity about compiler phases Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2019-11-23 16:13 +0000
        Re: curiosity about compiler phases Thiago Adams <thiago.adams@gmail.com> - 2019-11-25 03:24 -0800
  Re: curiosity about compiler phases Bonita Montero <Bonita.Montero@gmail.com> - 2019-11-23 08:43 +0100

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