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From: Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Is there a way to do large block of source code comments
Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 11:19:21 -0700
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Date: 2014-09-04T11:19:21-07:00
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Stefan.Lucks@uni-weimar.de writes:
[...]
> Now, I actually think it would have been possible to have block
> comments the Ada way (and is still possible for Ada 202X): Allow block
> comments (I'd suggest Pascal's "(*" and "*)" for their brackets but
> that is a matter of taste). Just prohibit nesting! I.e., any "(*"
> inside a block comment is a syntax error. Conventional "--" comments
> are allowed, and any "(*" and "*)" inside a conventional comment are
> allowed and ignored (i.e., not treated as block comment brackets).
>
> This language feature would allow to easily comment out large program
> parts without safety issues. But I doubt there is actually much demand
> for that in the Ada community!

It adds safety at the cost of not being able to "comment out" blocks of
code that already contain "(*"-style comments.

With the existing syntax, you can easily comment out a block of
text by inserting "--" at the beginning of each line, even if
that block already contains either ordinary comments or previously
commented-out code.  Most editors can do this with a few keystrokes.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Working, but not speaking, for JetHead Development, Inc.
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"