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From: wmb@MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Conditional compilation
Message-ID: <9103151639.AA09010@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 14 Mar 91 22:06:10 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: wmb%MITCH.ENG.SUN.COM@SCFVM.GSFC.NASA.GOV
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 34

Comparison of different names for conditional compilation:


IFTRUE  OTHERWISE  IFEND

        + Mentioned in Forth-83
        + Used in some existing implementations
        - OTHERWISE is an English word that often appears in comments

.IF  .ELSE  .THEN

        + Used in LMI Forth and in at least one other implementation
        - "." conventionally signifies an output function

#IF  #ELSE  #THEN

        + Many programmers know these name
        + Used in at least one implementation
        - "#" has other conventional meanings in Forth (number
          conversion, in #TIB, etc)

[IF]  [ELSE]  [THEN]

        + Mnemonically consistent with ['], etc.
        - They look "ugly" to some people


IF(  )ELSE(  )THEN

        + The bracketing is explicit
        - Potential for confusion about where the flag goes


Mitch Bradley, wmb@Eng.Sun.COM