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Groups > comp.lang.c > #100391
| From | Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.lang.c |
| Subject | Re: Octal |
| Date | 2016-12-27 18:41 -0800 |
| Organization | None to speak of |
| Message-ID | <lnpokc6ai4.fsf@kst-u.example.com> (permalink) |
| References | (11 earlier) <f1ba350a-71c0-44cf-a57f-aace35f6f2f2@googlegroups.com> <lneg0t6r1f.fsf@kst-u.example.com> <26119487-8644-4352-82bc-f1f1b6d7bb30@googlegroups.com> <ln7f6k7ur5.fsf@kst-u.example.com> <a8cf4377-915d-4226-90db-e672b7daa130@googlegroups.com> |
supercat@casperkitty.com writes:
> On Tuesday, December 27, 2016 at 6:38:43 PM UTC-6, Keith Thompson wrote:
>> supercat writes:
>> > Is there some reason you think compiler writers would want to stick with
>> > extra complexity whose primary purpose is to produce syntax errors from code
>> > which would otherwise be unambiguous, rather than remove the weird cases
>> > from their scanner and replace them with something simpler?
>>
>> What "extra complexity"? Have you read section 6.4.8 of the standard,
>> describing preprocessing numbers?
>
> How many useful programs' behavior would be affected by a compiler which
> did not start by grouping the pp-number terms as described but instead
> either used a grammar that processed the different kinds of numeric literals
> directly or else started by initially recognizing three kinds of chunks of
> code:
>
> 1. Runs of whitespace.
> 2. Runs of characters that are legal in identifiers, including digits
> 3. Other characters, individually
>
> and then later worried about recognizing constructs like
>
> [1-9][0-9]* . [0-9*][eE] [+-] [0-9][0-9]*
>
> as floating-point literals??
Wow, that was all one run-on question. Next time, consider answering my
questions before asking your own.
Your "three kinds of chunks" approach would break 1.2e+3 (which
currently is a single pp-number) into 5 pp-tokens:
1 (category 2)
. (category 3)
e (category 2)
+ (category 3)
3 (category 2)
I suppose they'd all be merged into a single token in translation
phase 7. Which means, among other things, that the current rule
(each pp-token is converted to a single token) goes out the window,
*and* whitespace remains significant longer that it currently does.
I think that's a non-starter.
The idea of replacing pp-numbers by, say, pp-integer-constants and
pp-floating-constants, with a more restrictive syntax, might actually be
workable -- or perhaps I just haven't spent enough time thinking about
it to see any problems. And if I were designing the language from
scratch today, perhaps that's the way I'd go.
But it's still a substantial change, requiring a non-trivial amount of
work to describe it in standardese, verify that there are no unexpected
consequences, and implement it in every conforming C compiler.
Is there a benefit to all this work other than being able to write
0x1E+1 rather than 0x1E + 1?
> Would anything else render the as-if rule
> inapplicable as justification for such a parsing approach if a compiler
> had special logic to diagnose constructs where a + or - was preceded by an
> alphanumeric run that ended with E but contained other non-numeric
> characters?
Perhaps that would make sense if I knew what you meant by the "as-if"
rule. It seems to be something other than the usual meaning. (The
standard doesn't mention the as-if rule other than in an index entry
pointing to 5.1.2.3.)
>> Again, suppose such a change is made. How long do you think it would
>> take before C programmers can reliably assume that 0x1E+1 will *always*
>> be treated as 3 tokens?
>
> Probably not terribly long, in many venues. Many compilers accept the
> notation without complaint because it's trivially easy to do so. I am
> not sure if it's possible to write a strictly-conforming program whose
> behavior would be affected by the change, and I doubt such a change would
> affect the behavior of any useful program which was not deliberately
> contrived to be affected by it. If none of a compiler writers' customers
> ever complain about the lack of a feature, the compiler writer would not
> need to waste time worrying about it; if a compiler writers' customers
> complain about the lack of a feature, such complaints would suggest that
> people found it useful.
"... in many venues". That's nice. I work with some rather old
toolchains that aren't likely to be updated any time soon.
The current definition is odd, but consistent, and it very rarely causes
any problems.
--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Working, but not speaking, for JetHead Development, Inc.
"We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this."
-- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"
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Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-27 14:08 +0000
Octal "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2016-12-27 06:19 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-27 14:58 +0000
Re: Octal "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2016-12-27 07:07 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-27 15:22 +0000
Re: Octal "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2016-12-27 07:37 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-27 16:24 +0000
Re: Octal "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2016-12-27 08:30 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-27 09:10 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-27 09:35 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-27 10:47 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-27 12:03 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-27 12:27 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-27 12:44 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-27 13:37 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-27 16:38 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-27 17:53 -0800
Re: Octal Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-27 20:26 -0600
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-27 18:48 -0800
Re: Octal Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-27 22:20 -0600
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-27 18:41 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-27 19:19 -0800
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-29 14:52 +1300
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 18:41 -0800
Re: Octal Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2016-12-28 16:54 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-27 17:44 +0000
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-27 12:17 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-27 22:39 +0000
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-28 11:49 +1300
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-27 23:09 +0000
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-28 12:32 +1300
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 00:51 +0000
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-28 14:00 +1300
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 01:13 +0000
Re: Octal Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-27 20:04 -0600
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-27 18:45 -0800
Re: Octal Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2016-12-29 13:35 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-29 14:49 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-29 15:33 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-30 12:35 -0800
Re: Octal Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2017-01-13 15:19 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-01-13 15:32 -0800
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2017-01-14 12:35 +1300
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-01-13 15:51 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2017-01-13 18:25 -0800
Re: Octal Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2017-01-14 06:21 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2017-01-14 14:00 -0800
Re: Octal Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2017-01-15 23:08 -0800
Re: Octal Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2017-01-15 23:02 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2017-01-13 18:52 -0800
Re: Octal Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2017-01-15 23:46 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2017-01-16 01:46 -0800
Re: Octal Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2017-01-31 08:33 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-27 17:19 -0800
Re: Octal raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2016-12-28 09:39 +0000
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 11:02 +0000
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-28 12:13 +0100
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 11:41 +0000
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 09:31 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 17:39 +0000
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-28 22:05 +0100
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 12:01 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 20:05 +0000
Re: Octal asetofsymbols@gmail.com - 2016-12-28 11:20 -0800
Re: Octal Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-28 12:01 +0000
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 12:30 +0000
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-28 13:51 +0100
Re: Octal Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-28 16:26 +0000
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-28 08:40 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 09:41 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 18:04 +0000
Re: Octal Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-28 19:36 +0000
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 19:42 +0000
Re: Octal Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-29 00:34 +0000
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-28 11:04 -0800
Re: Octal raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2016-12-28 12:09 +0000
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-27 16:46 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 00:56 +0000
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-27 17:52 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 11:27 +0000
Re: Octal Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-28 12:09 +0000
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-28 08:17 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 17:02 +0000
Re: Octal Ike Naar <ike@iceland.freeshell.org> - 2016-12-28 17:25 +0000
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 17:45 +0000
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 10:21 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-28 09:27 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 10:23 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-28 11:18 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 10:19 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-29 15:54 +0000
Re: Octal Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2016-12-29 12:57 -0800
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-30 10:01 +1300
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-30 10:44 +0100
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-29 17:32 +0100
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-29 17:03 +0000
Re: Octal Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-29 16:26 -0600
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-30 11:31 +1300
Re: Octal Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-29 16:58 -0600
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-30 11:59 +1300
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-30 09:00 +1300
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-30 10:21 +0100
Re: Octal asetofsymbols@gmail.com - 2016-12-30 01:29 -0800
Re: Octal asetofsymbols@gmail.com - 2016-12-30 01:29 -0800
Re: Octal asetofsymbols@gmail.com - 2016-12-30 01:36 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-29 11:52 +0000
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-29 17:10 +0000
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-29 05:52 -0800
Re: Octal Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-28 19:51 -0600
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-29 21:09 +0000
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-30 10:15 +1300
Re: Octal Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2016-12-29 13:53 -0800
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-30 12:07 +0100
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-30 13:04 +0000
Re: Octal Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2016-12-30 05:31 -0800
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-30 15:00 +0100
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-30 15:55 +0000
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-01-01 16:00 +0100
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2017-01-02 08:33 +1300
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2017-01-02 09:02 +1300
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2017-01-02 09:38 +1300
Re: Octal Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2017-01-01 13:59 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-01-01 14:24 -0800
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2017-01-01 15:51 -0800
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2017-01-02 13:09 +1300
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2017-01-01 16:50 -0800
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2017-01-02 14:24 +1300
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-01-02 01:53 +0100
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2017-01-02 14:15 +1300
Re: Octal Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2017-01-02 02:28 -0800
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-31 06:24 +1300
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-30 17:53 +0000
Re: Octal luser droog <luser.droog@gmail.com> - 2016-12-30 10:01 -0800
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-31 09:57 +1300
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-30 13:50 -0800
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-31 11:09 +1300
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-30 14:46 -0800
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-31 12:28 +1300
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-30 16:01 -0800
Re: Octal Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> - 2016-12-30 14:48 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-30 22:51 +0000
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-30 15:20 -0800
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-31 12:34 +1300
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-30 23:40 +0000
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-30 22:12 +0000
Re: Octal raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2016-12-28 21:38 +0000
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-29 12:04 +0000
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-29 13:42 +0100
Re: Octal Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-30 08:59 +1300
Re: Octal supercat@casperkitty.com - 2016-12-29 12:23 -0800
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-30 10:56 +0100
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 22:09 +0000
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-29 12:27 +0100
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 21:18 +0000
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 20:46 +0000
Re: Octal raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2016-12-28 20:55 +0000
Re: Octal Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-28 14:54 -0600
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-29 15:44 +0000
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 19:39 +0000
Re: Octal Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-28 15:04 -0600
Re: Octal raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2016-12-28 19:52 +0000
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-29 09:36 -0800
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-29 18:02 +0000
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-30 16:17 +0000
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2017-01-01 16:09 +0100
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 20:02 +0000
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 12:32 -0800
Re: Octal Richard Heathfield <rjh@cpax.org.uk> - 2016-12-29 13:45 +0000
Re: Octal Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-28 17:16 +0000
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 10:04 -0800
Re: Octal Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2017-01-02 02:26 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-01-02 12:35 -0800
Re: Octal Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2017-01-12 23:22 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2017-01-13 10:04 -0800
Re: Octal Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2017-01-14 00:45 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 09:59 -0800
Re: Octal "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2016-12-27 09:45 -0800
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-27 17:14 +0100
Re: Octal "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2016-12-27 08:23 -0800
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-28 10:37 +0100
Re: Octal "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2016-12-28 03:07 -0800
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-28 12:25 +0100
Re: Octal Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-28 11:58 +0000
Re: Octal "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2016-12-28 04:35 -0800
Re: Octal Ben Bacarisse <ben.usenet@bsb.me.uk> - 2016-12-28 17:31 +0000
Re: Octal "Rick C. Hodgin" <rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com> - 2016-12-28 09:38 -0800
Re: Octal Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2016-12-28 15:12 -0600
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 12:01 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 09:20 -0800
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-28 13:39 -0800
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-29 12:29 +0100
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-28 22:20 +0100
Re: Octal Noob <root@127.0.0.1> - 2016-12-28 13:02 +0100
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-28 13:30 +0100
Re: Octal BartC <bc@freeuk.com> - 2016-12-28 13:25 +0000
Re: Octal Manfred <noname@invalid.add> - 2016-12-27 15:19 +0100
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-27 08:37 -0800
Re: Octal Manfred <noname@invalid.add> - 2016-12-27 18:43 +0100
Re: Octal Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2016-12-27 12:07 -0800
Re: Octal Manfred <noname@invalid.add> - 2016-12-27 18:21 +0100
Re: Octal David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2016-12-27 15:28 +0100
Re: Octal BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2016-12-27 11:42 -0600
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