On Mon, 1 Mar 2010, Bob Ammerman wrote:

> > On 2010-03-01 17:58, Bob Ammerman wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>> I know, but there is something funny going on.  I looked at it with
> >>> 'xxd' and you have a CR/^M/0x0D with no LF/0x0A, and I will bet that's
> >>> confusing the compiler.
> >>
> >> If that's what is confusing the compiler then the compiler is broken. CR 
> >> and
> >> LF are both defined as whitespace characters and any number of 
> >> consecutive
> >> whitespace characters is treated as equivalent to a single space.
> >>
> >> -- Bob Ammerman
> >> RAm System
> >>
> >
> > whitespace != newline.
> 
> whitespace is one of:
> 
> space
> tab
> newline (aka linefeed)
> carriage return
> form feed
> vertical tab
> 
> and possibly others in extended characters sets (like Unicode).
> 

I wish it were that simple :-)

A compiler relies on end-of-line (whatever you decide it should be) to 
identify where in the source an error has occured. Not only that, but if 
the compiler is to emit source level debug information for the debugger 
(so that it can display where in the source the executing program is) then 
this is another reason why the compiler needs to differentiate between 
white spase and end-of-line.

end-of-line needs to be well defined and strictly observed. What 
combination of CR/LF is treated as a end-of-line? If the compiler 
encounters CR on its own should it be treated as end-of-line? Should CR/LF 
be treated the same as LF/CR? Should CR/CR/LF be treated as 1 end-of-line 
or 2? What about LF/LF/CR? what happens when you mix and match LF and CR 
as end-of-line in the same source? How many end-of-line is one "vertical 
tab" or "form feed" equivalent too?

It is far far simpler for the compiler (or preprocessor) to catch 
unexpected special characters and flag these as an error and use the 
system wide well defined end-of-line than it is for the compiler to guess 
what an out of place special character should actually mean.

Regards
Sergio Masci
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