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From: dolf@idca.tds.philips.nl (Dolf Grunbauer)
Newsgroups: comp.compilers
Subject: Re: Semicolons (Re: Low-Rent Syntax)
Keywords: parse, design
Message-ID: <9009070717.AA17752@ssp9.idca.tds.philips.nl>
Date: 7 Sep 90 08:17:03 GMT
Sender: compilers-sender@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us
Reply-To: Dolf Grunbauer <dolf@idca.tds.philips.nl>
Organization: Philips Information Systems, P.O. Box 245,
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Lines: 26
Approved: compilers@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us

>In article <2753@sequent.cs.qmw.ac.uk> Rob Carriere wrote:
>[re putting the semicolon at the front of this line in Algol-like languages]

I think it was Edgar Dijkstra but I am not quite sure. The purpose of these
leading semicolons was that you can easily see which closing bracket belongs
to which opening bracket as the semicolons make some sort of a line. Example:

if condition
then  statement1
;     statement2
;     if other_condition
      then statement3
      ;    statement4
      else statement5
      ;    statement6
      fi
;     statement7
fi
-- 
Dolf Grunbauer  Tel: +31 55 433233 Internet dolf@idca.tds.philips.nl
Philips Information Systems        UUCP     ...!mcsun!philapd!dolf


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