Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]
| From | Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.lang.c |
| Subject | Re: Why don't C comments nest? |
| Date | 2011-11-11 15:14 -0800 |
| Organization | None to speak of |
| Message-ID | <ln39du6yme.fsf@nuthaus.mib.org> (permalink) |
| References | <j9jsj2$7gi$1@speranza.aioe.org> <20111111115530.783@kylheku.com> <j9k0it$j5j$1@dont-email.me> <lnobwi7421.fsf@nuthaus.mib.org> <j9k6qs$u5c$1@dont-email.me> |
"BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
> "Keith Thompson" <kst-u@mib.org> wrote in message
> news:lnobwi7421.fsf@nuthaus.mib.org...
>> "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> writes:
>>> "Kaz Kylheku" <kaz@kylheku.com> wrote in message
>>> news:20111111115530.783@kylheku.com...
>> [...]
>>>> The #if 0 directive solves the embedding problem, because material which
>>>> is
>>>
>>> Perhaps have #comment ... #end then
>
>> Hmm? What problem would #comment ... #end solve that #if 0 ... #endif
>> doesn't already solve?
>
> It's more self-explanatory than #if 0
So use #ifdef SOME_MEANINGFUL_IDENTIFIER, and don't provide a definition
for that identifier.
>>> Suppose the code you want to comment out is the middle of a line, which
>>> is
>>> already using /*...*/ ?
>>
>> Well then I guess you've got a bit of a problem. But I don't think I've
>> evern run into that situation.
>>
>> Let's see if I can come up with a plausible example.
>
> The problem is placing unnecessary restrictions on how C code is laid out.
>
> Insisting on #if 0 means imposing a line-oriented structure, while C is
> supposed to be free-format.
>
> Besides, any example anyone comes up with, can be rewritten to use multiple
> lines that would allow the use of #if 0. If which case, why bother having
> /*...*/ comments at all?
Because /*...*/ comments are more convenient in many cases.
(Personally, I wouldn't mind having just // comments and no /*...*/
comments, but of course we can't change that now. There are plenty of
languages that only have end-of-lime comments.)
> The advantage of /*...*/ is starting and/or ending the comment in the middle
> of a line. If that is desirable, why shouldn't one be able to do it on a
> section of code (which could span multiple lines) which happens to already
> have a comment in there?
Because nothing is perfect, and you can't have everything.
> Maybe there are several existing comments, some can be whole lines and some
> partial. Or it's a massive bit of code and it may not be easy to check
> whether there are comments there or not! But it shouldn't be necessary to
> care.
I have no doubt that the syntax of C comments could be tweaked in some
way that would be more to your liking. Any such change would result in
something that's less to someone else's liking. I don't suggest that
your preferences are less important than someone else's; the deciding
factor has to be backward compatibility.
Come up with a proposed change that (a) does what you want, and (b)
doesn't break existing code, and we can discuss it. (But the current
system isn't sufficiently broken that any such change is likely to be
adopted.)
--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
"We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this."
-- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"
Back to comp.lang.c | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread
Why don't C comments nest? Aron Packer <atp1@rightthing.invalid> - 2011-11-11 19:21 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2011-11-11 14:31 -0500
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Noob <root@127.0.0.1> - 2011-11-17 11:21 +0100
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2011-11-18 15:55 +0200
Re: Why don't C comments nest? nroberts <roberts.noah@gmail.com> - 2011-11-11 11:25 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2011-11-11 20:11 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-11 20:28 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-11-11 13:16 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2011-11-11 16:28 -0500
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-11-11 13:54 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Willem <willem@toad.stack.nl> - 2011-11-12 12:07 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-11-12 13:11 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Willem <willem@toad.stack.nl> - 2011-11-12 22:29 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-11-12 16:36 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Willem <willem@toad.stack.nl> - 2011-11-13 10:30 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2011-11-13 06:31 -0500
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Willem <willem@toad.stack.nl> - 2011-11-13 16:57 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2011-11-12 08:21 -0600
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Lauri Alanko <la@iki.fi> - 2011-11-12 14:29 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Acid Washed China Blue Jeans <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-11-12 06:57 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2011-11-12 17:51 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2011-11-12 09:44 -0500
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2011-11-12 16:37 -0600
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Kenneth Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2011-11-15 14:22 -0500
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-11-16 08:41 +1300
Re: Why don't C comments nest? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2011-11-15 14:48 -0500
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-11-16 09:03 +1300
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-15 20:37 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-11-16 10:06 +1300
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-11-15 14:31 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-15 22:41 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2011-11-15 23:06 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-15 23:58 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2011-11-16 01:58 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Willem <willem@toad.stack.nl> - 2011-11-15 22:40 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-11-16 11:48 +1300
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2011-11-15 23:13 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Kenneth Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2011-11-16 12:57 -0500
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-11-17 07:42 +1300
Re: Why don't C comments nest? John Gordon <gordon@panix.com> - 2011-11-16 18:57 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-11-17 08:48 +1300
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-11-16 11:50 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-11-17 09:00 +1300
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2011-11-16 20:20 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? blp@cs.stanford.edu (Ben Pfaff) - 2011-11-16 11:57 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-11-17 09:47 +1300
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2011-11-18 15:49 +0200
Re: Why don't C comments nest? James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2011-11-18 10:15 -0500
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2011-11-18 17:57 +0200
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-11 22:14 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? blp@cs.stanford.edu (Ben Pfaff) - 2011-11-11 14:35 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-12 00:10 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-11-11 15:14 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-12 00:37 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2011-11-11 20:21 -0500
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-12 11:10 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2011-11-12 08:11 -0500
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-12 13:57 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2011-11-12 09:34 -0500
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-12 18:17 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2011-11-12 14:09 -0600
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-12 20:49 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-11-12 13:42 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-12 21:53 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2011-11-12 21:44 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-12 22:12 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-11-13 11:22 +1300
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-11-12 16:32 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-11-12 13:09 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-12 21:46 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Seebs <usenet-nospam@seebs.net> - 2011-11-12 21:40 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-11-12 11:20 +1300
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2011-11-12 00:40 +0200
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2011-11-12 04:29 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-12 10:54 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-11-13 09:11 +1300
Re: Why don't C comments nest? "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2011-11-12 20:52 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2011-11-13 10:22 +1300
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2011-11-13 23:55 +0200
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Acid Washed China Blue Jeans <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-11-12 07:02 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2011-11-12 13:13 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Acid Washed China Blue Jeans <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-11-12 13:48 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Acid Washed China Blue Jeans <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2011-11-11 16:51 -0800
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2011-11-12 22:55 +0000
Re: Why don't C comments nest? Kenneth Brody <kenbrody@spamcop.net> - 2011-11-15 14:17 -0500
csiph-web