Comment Syntax

[Thomas Davie]

On 30 Jan 2006, at 14:01, Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho wrote:

> Thomas Davie wrote:
>> Except that there is a good reason (pos two) why the language is   
>> wrong
>> - it's inconsistant with the other comment syntax, and it's   
>> confusing
>> to newbies.
>
> I tend to think of "--" as a reserved word in the same sense as "case"
> is a reserved word. Hence, -- starts a comment, --> doesn't. The  
> opening
> brace ({) is not a symbol character, so {- is in the same category as
> the semicolon, special symbol, not a reserved word.
>
> I was actually delighted to learn that it works like this.
>
> For newbies, just tell them that "-- " is the comment starter. It  
> works
> well enough, and newbies get a lot of other half-truths, so it's  
> nothing
> earth-shattering :)

True but they're bound to get it wrong at least once (I know I did,  
and damn were the errors confusing).  Also, how do you propose that  
--  is put on a slide and differentiated from --?

The fact that -- is a reserved word while {- is not just highlights  
farther the inconsistency in the language.

Bob