chuqui@cae780.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) (11/17/83)
I just found a situation where the supposedly free format language C isn't! If you take the code segment: #define foo(x,y,z, \ a,b) \ bar(a,b,x,y,x) you get the wonderfully self-explanatory (as described by cc(1)) error message 'formal error \'. It turns out that you cannot break up the parameter list of a macro onto multiple lines, even if you do so at places where the normally logical compiler should let you. One of the local affcianados told me that its because it is the pre-processor, not the compiler, and therefore doesn't have to be free-format. Since in reality it is almost impossible to live hacking C without cpp, this really isn't a reasonable answer, since anything in cpp that restricts free-formatting also restricts the language itself. Someone want to conjecture why this (seemingly arbitrary) restriction is here (laziness by the cpp author is not admittable in court, although it may be the real reason), and why it doesn't seem to be documented? -- From the dungeons of the warlock: amd70!cae780!chuqui Chuqui the Plaid *pif*