Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!nsc!taux01!arielf From: arielf@taux01.nsc.com (Ariel Faigon) Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl Subject: Perl & cpp Keywords: perl -P option, redundancy, cpp Message-ID: <5685@taux01.nsc.com> Date: 8 Apr 91 12:53:15 GMT Reply-To: arielf@taux01.nsc.com (Ariel Faigon) Organization: National Semiconductor (IC) Ltd, Israel Lines: 31 The -P (preprocess perl using cpp) perl option is seldom used. I wonder what Larry had in mind when he introduced it. Was it that "creeping featurism" ideal ;-) Anyway, to be more productive: -P alone is almost useless. It would have been more useful if you could add -Dxxx and -Uxxx to it. -D and -U are already used by perl, but -D has the form -D, and -U stands alone (unless ou use switch clustering...) while the respective cpp options always come with some immediately following identifier. Maybe -P could be more useful, with -D[=...] and -U supported (passed to cpp). But wait ! don't do it ;-) Personally, I think that since -Dxxx is used for conditional compilation, and since perl is interpreted (you can decide what code to interpret at run-time) - The cpp preprocessing is really redundant. Unfortunately, it has to be kept for backward compatibility (has anyone used it ? what for ?). I guess you should treat this posting merely as material for thought. Thanks again Larry, for a wonderful tool. -- Ariel Faigon, CTP group, NSTA National Semiconductor (Israel) 6 Maskit st. P.O.B. 3007, Herzlia 46104, Israel Tel. (972)52-522312 arielf@taux01.nsc.com @{hplabs,pyramid,sun,decwrl} 34 48 E / 32 10 N