Article View: comp.lang.misc
Article #6417Re: Language Design, or: is C's Grammar Context Free
From: Micha Berger
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 1989 14:51
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 1989 14:51
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2117 bytes
In article <10162@socslgw.csl.sony.JUNET>, diamond@diamond.csl.sony.junet (Norman Diamond) writes:
> In article <9313@dasys1.UUCP> aj-mberg@dasys1.UUCP (Micha Berger) writes:
> >> Consider the following in C, however:
> >
> >> . . . { T (x); . . . }
> >
> >> How should the construct be parsed?
> >
> >It would have to be an expression, since anything within brackets ain't a
> >decleration. This isn't Pascal kiddees, all functions are global.
>
> Anything within brackets is a declaration until the end of
> the declarations, and then statements (expressions) until the closing
> bracket. This isn't Pascal kiddee; intuition and aesthetics are not
> welcome here.
Well the sataement cannot be a decleration for x, since x is in
parenthasis. It cannot be a decleration for T (using ANSI's new format),
since it has no type.
My point was about something else. I felt people were trying to force
the statement to read along the same lines as:
main() {
int T(x)
int x;
{
};
.
.
.
}
and that's what I meant about being allowed in Pascal and not in C.
(BTW I've been using C as my primary language since 1978 not because
C is superior as a language, just that it gives me more power to optimize
my code. If I got a Pascal with a good enough optimizer, I'd switch
back. I like C's speed, not the language itself.)
--
Micha Berger
Disclaimer: All opinions expressed here are my own. The spelling, noone's.
email: ...!cmcl2!hombre!dasys1!aj-mberg Aspaklaria Publications
vox: (718) 380-7572 73-32 173 St, Hillcrest, NY 11366
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!cmcl2!phri!cooper!dasys1!aj-mberg From: aj-mberg@dasys1.UUCP (Micha Berger) Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: Language Design, or: is C's Grammar Context Free Summary: Functios Keywords: BNF, Grammars, Silliness Message-ID: <9382@dasys1.UUCP> Date: 18 Apr 89 14:51:39 GMT References: <5200040@m.cs.uiuc.edu> <12443@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <10162@socslgw.csl.sony.JUNET> Organization: The Big Electric Cat Lines: 43