Checksum: 27579
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Path: utzoo!sq!msb
From: msb@sq.uucp (Mark Brader)
Date: Thu, 21-Jan-88 18:20:32 EST
Message-ID: <1988Jan21.182032.17852@sq.uucp>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: nested comments
References: <13423@pyramid.pyramid.com>
Reply-To: msb@sq.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto

> 	2. using nested comments, you are much less likely to suffer from
> 	   mistakes of the form:
> 		a=b; 	/* <-- comment starts here
> 		c=d;	/* comment ends here --> */

This is easily covered by a compiler warning of the form
Warning - /* found within comment - check for missing */
I have used either a B or C compiler that did this, but I
don't remember where.  Probably B at Waterloo.

In my opinion "commenting out" seriously detracts from readability and
should be avoided like the plague.  There are other ways to preserve old
versions of the code (SCCS, RCS, mv).

If I really must do it temporarily, I use #if 0 or #ifdef NEVER.
(Not #ifndef, of course.  I recently got burned by not noticing that
someone had coded #ifndef NEVER ... #else in a program I was modifying.)

Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com
	We can design a system that's proof against accident and stupidity;
	but we CAN'T design one that's proof against deliberate malice.
	-- a spaceship designer in Arthur C. Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey"