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From: rhl@grendel.princeton.edu (Robert Lupton (the Good))
Newsgroups: comp.compilers
Subject: Re: Semicolons (Re: Low-Rent Syntax)
Keywords: parse, design
Message-ID: <2313@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 6 Sep 90 13:44:50 GMT
References: <1990Aug29.140407.28378@maths.nott.ac.uk> <2753@sequent.cs.qmw.ac.uk> <8478@fy.sei.cmu.edu>
Sender: compilers-sender@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us
Reply-To: rhl@grendel.princeton.edu (Robert Lupton (the Good))
Organization: Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
Lines: 21
Approved: compilers@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us

I don't quite see the worry about syntax errors due to missing/extra
semicolons. I've been writing C for 10 years, and many tens of thousands
of lines later I can only remember one set of problems due to making
semicolon mistakes, namely in the days when I used

	float x,
	      y,	      
	      z;
	      
I'd sometimes change z's name to yy and switch the last two lines (had
to be alphabetic, you know |-) and end up with an int by mistake. Since
I stopped using this declaration style I don't remember a single ; error.

			Robert
[C has semicolon as terminator rather than as separator, which seems easier
to get right.  -John]


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