Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!orcenl!bengsig
From: bengsig@oracle.nl (Bjorn Engsig)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Why are @, `, and $ not used in C?
Keywords: This is a historic question
Message-ID: <509.nlhp3@oracle.nl>
Date: 18 Sep 89 14:14:09 GMT
Reply-To: bengsig@oracle.nl (Bjorn Engsig)
Organization: ORACLE Europe, The Netherlands
Lines: 9

By mistake, I just typed a define as VALUE@ in stead of VALUE2, and I 
realised that it didn't look like C at all.  A quick glance on my keyboard
shows three characters, @, `, and $ that cannot be used in C outside of
strings.  Is there any historic reason for that?

I know that $ is often allowed in identifiers so that is ruled out, but
couldn't @ and/or ` have been used for something useful.
-- 
Bjorn Engsig, bengsig@oracle.nl, bengsig@oracle.com, mcvax!orcenl!bengsig