Re: Which code style do you prefer the most?

bart <bc@freeuk.com> writes:

On 27/02/2025 12:56, Ar Rakin wrote:
>

[concerning line splicing with \ at end of line]

>
Then line-splicing, which combines two lines if the first ends
with \, is done before processing // comments.
>

I am aware that you can do the same thing with strings like this:
>
fprintf(stderr, "multi\
line\
strings\
are fun.");
>
I can understand how this might be useful;  but with *comments*??
Was that actually a thing in the official C standards?

>
It's isn't that useful for strings;  the following is simpler and
also works:
>
  "multi"
  "line"
  "string"

Just as a historical note, this construction wasn't available in
pre-standard C.  So line splicing used to be needed in such cases.

But it is needed for multi-line macros, as C's proprocessor is
strictly line-oriented and a macro definition must fit onto one
line.

Since 1989 when the original C standard was done, multi-line macros
can be written without needing to use \ for line splicing.  I was
surprised to learn this when I first saw it.  An example:

    #define MASK_WIDTH( m ) ( 0U + (unsigned)+(          /*
    */    (m)  /((m)%32767 +1)  /32767  %32767  *15      /*
    */    +  (m)  %32767  /((m)%31 +1)  /31  %31  *5     /*
    */    +  4  -  12 / ((m)%31 + 3)                     /*
    */))

Yes, it's ugly.  Yes, it means line breaks can be put in only at
token boundaries (although in practice that limitation is observed
anyway).  Yes, I know of no production code that uses this
technique.  Still I think this trick is one worth knowing about.