Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!jarthur!dfoster
From: dfoster@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Derek R. Foster)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Nested Comments in C -- A recent experience
Message-ID: <5497@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>
Date: 27 Mar 90 17:33:50 GMT
References: <9631@wpi.wpi.edu> <1990Mar18.045238.18224@utzoo.uucp> <5418@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> <581@nlsun1.oracle.nl>
Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711
Lines: 31

In article <581@nlsun1.oracle.nl> bengsig@oracle.nl (Bjorn Engsig) writes:
>Article <5418@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> by dfoster@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Derek R. Foster) says:
>|...  I have been using nested comments as debugging
>|tools for many years, ....
>If that is the case, may I then ask you why you post this message to
>comp.lang.c?  "Nested comments" IMPLIES "Programming language is not C",
>as been told here a zillion times.

Because by the time I release anything to anybody but myself, I have
removed the nested comments, and it IS C. This "Programming languages
that include nested comments aren't C" argument is a non-sequitur that,
although TECHNICALLY true, had no relevance to the discussion when
it was first stated. Guess what? It still isn't relevant. I don't hear
about anybody claiming that languages which support typeof() or __handle
pointers, or other extensions that don't appear in the standard are "not C"
Instead, they are "Dialects of C". In fact, every compiler that I am aware
of is nonstandard in at least some minor point. The standards
committee often refuses to add new capabilities to the standard unless
someone has tried them out first. By your definition, MOST of the people who
post here aren't writing in C, and anyone who submits a program or a
question which uses even ONE nonstandard feature shouldn't post. In fact,
even people who are using outdated compilers shouldn't post, since the
new standard implies that their programs are "not C", even if they were
when written. (Where should these people go, by the way? In the heat of
sarcasm, you failed to mention that information.) This is obviously
ridiculous. Nested comments are no different. They are FEATURES of some
DIALECTS of C. You will note that this newsgroup is not "comp.std.c." It
is "comp.lang.c" If you don't like nested comments, at least try to find
a better argument against them than this.

Derek Riippa Foster