[R] [FORGED] Re: Block comment?

[S Ellison]

> Do not the same considerations essentially apply to the well established
> /* .... */ convention used in C?  Well maybe you simply *can't* get the "*/"
> string within a block of C code, but still ....
Yes, the same problem arises in C. And you _can_ get */ in valid code - as the closing part of a comment. Attempts to nest C block comments result in part of the outer block becoming uncommented and the outer block comment terminator becoming invalid syntax.

For example
main() {
 /*
    /* Hello world */   <- now the comment terminator
         printf("hello world") 
 /*  <- oops
} 

Avoiding that trap is one reason that ANSI C block comments often use an extra ' *' at the beginning of each line - as in

/* **************
 * An example ANSI C  
 * heading   
 * ************** */
which rather undermines the convenience of the whole thing.

So there's probably more than one reason // was added to C. That and better editors.

S Ellison


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