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From: Georg Bauhaus <bauhaus@futureapps.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Is there a way to do large block of source code comments
Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 09:20:47 +0200
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Date: 2014-09-04T09:20:47+02:00
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On 04.09.14 04:37, robin.vowels@gmail.com wrote:
> Um, comments highlighted in a different color from the code
> make it clear which is commented.

But highlighting doesn't make it clear what the "commented" text
is about, and how it is structured.  Since the text is still there,
the current reader (human debugger, reviewer, successor) frequently
needs to understand it. (*)

Using comment indicators for disabling some source text is
the original sin.

However, since the practice of "quickly disabling" a part of
the source text during coding is commonplace, languages could
as well start supporting that! Specifically support that, I mean,
not via generic comments. It needs to be the language, because the
tools would have to be at least as good as the compiler and its
error handling code. But current tools tend not to be language
specific.

Another technique that may do during coding, provided that there
are no far reaching declarations that will vanish:

   if False then
      as_if (commented);
      here_as (well);
   end if;

The effect on a future reader will be just as annoying as a
"commented multiline section" of code. Fans of editors may
use folding to hide either from sight.

__
(*) With luck, an equipment actually supports a programming language,
in full, even in the presence of grammars like Ada's and in the presence
of syntax errors. Most don't, for example, the fail when ''' is not
paired, or when comment delimiters are part of strings.