Article View: comp.lang.misc
Article #2795Re: improve language by dropping ;
From: lavinus
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 1991 00:03
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 1991 00:03
16 lines
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1513 bytes
There's a reason for the semicolon that seems to be missed here. Yes, as several of you have pointed out, it is perfectly feasible to define a language which requires *no* end-of-statement separators - no semicolons, end-of-line's, or anything. One can even drop the semicolons from Pascal pretty easily. But.. this assumes that a compiler for this language is always given correct programs. The semicolons are there so that if the compiler hits an error, and gets really confused, it may easily find the end of the statement and recover to continue parsing the program. -- Joe Lavinus, Virginia Tech -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= = Joseph W. Lavinus = \ / = = Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia = \/__V = = email: lavinus@csgrad.cs.vt.edu = /\ =
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!think.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!vtserf!creatures!csgrad!lavinus From: lavinus@csgrad.cs.vt.edu Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: improve language by dropping ; Message-ID: <943@creatures.cs.vt.edu> Date: 19 Feb 91 00:03:51 GMT References: <8507.27b91f9e@jetson.uh.edu> <329@smds.UUCP> <1991Feb18.140346.8896@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> Sender: usenet@creatures.cs.vt.edu Reply-To: lavinus@csgrad.cs.vt.edu () Organization: Virginia Tech Computer Science, Blacksburg, VA Lines: 16