[jira] [Closed] (COR-41) Use of /* ... */ preferable to //... in STDC Code

["Peter Kelly (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

     [ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/COR-41?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:all-tabpanel ]

Peter Kelly closed COR-41.
--------------------------
    Resolution: Not a Problem

The // comment syntax is part of the C99 standard - the dialect of C in which DocFormats is written. Although Microsoft dragged their feet on C99 for over a decade, they finally added support for it with the introduction of Visual Studio 2013, including the comment syntax.

If we for some reason determine that it's necessary to support non-C99-confirming compilers, then this will require a massive effort throughout the whole codebase to remove not just // comments but also other C99 features like mixed variable declarations and statements. I think such an effort would be of dubious value, particular relative to other far more important work (e.g. ODF support). Given that Microsoft, the last major compiler vendor to implement the standard, now supports it going forward I don't think it's likely this will be needed.

> Use of /* ... */ preferable to //... in STDC Code
> -------------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: COR-41
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/COR-41
>             Project: Corinthia
>          Issue Type: Bug
>    Affects Versions: 0.5
>         Environment: All .c and .h files in the repository
>            Reporter: Dennis E. Hamilton
>            Priority: Trivial
>              Labels: Apache-License-Headers, C
>
> The ASF Notices on .c and .h files use // ... single-line comment triggers instead of something like 
>    /* ...
>    *
>    ...
>    */
> the only form that some compilers recognize as STDC comments.  The use of -Wall and STDC compile options will produce warnings in some products, such as most versions of Visual Studio, clogging the error log with warning messages.
> PROPOSAL:
>  1. Agree that it is OK to change these to /* ... */ when the particular files are touched for some purpose, such as clearing warnings out of a strict STDC compile.  Enough compilers warn about this, apparently for down-level STDC compatibility.  
> (In the VC++ standard libraries, there is a file deep in the Windows SDK headers that has a single //... that annoys me enough to actually fix it in the library.  I'd like to fix this with some sort of platform quirk patch but I haven't dug enough into the include-path rules to get that working.  Someday soon ... .) 
>  2. Fix these on an opportunistic basis.  There is no due date but it would be nice that all new ones be in the universally-STDC form.  (Headers and code files that *require* C++ are another story and they will have different file extensions as well.)
>  3. Pray that rat, the IP checker, recognizes these notices either way.



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