comment style

[David H. Thornley]

In article <628 at caslon.cs.arizona.edu> dave at cs.arizona.edu (Dave P. Schaumann) writes:
>In article <1991Jan08.192415.3361 at grep.co.uk> frank at grep.co.uk (Frank Wales) writes:
>>>[Referring to the "//" comment indicator, and finding the end of
>>> the comment.]
>|
>|My editor doesn't have a 'search for text in printouts' function.  Does yours?
>
>Actually, I considered this point when I was making the original post.  The
>reason I decided it wasn't important is that I can't imagine doing any serious
>work on a program when only hardcopy is available.  (*Surely* there is an
>on-line copy somewhere!)

My, how things change.  I can think of several reasons for working off
hardcopy:

1.  The large-screen multiple-window terminals are not available for
some reason, and you're stuck with a 24-line tube (like I'm using
right now).

2.  The source was never made available on-line, and you want to look
at it without typing it in.

3.  The source is available, but not in the right format, or not
immediately, or something.

4.  You want to sit out under a tree or in bed and consider the code.

5.  You aren't doing serious work, and therefore find it annoying to
have to search for where the comment ends.

6.  You're reading a book, not hacking code.

Shall I start the story about writing the multiple-precision arithmetic
routines in Z80 assembler on a TRS-80 Mod I (16 line screen) with a
four-inch-carriage thermal printer or are you willing to concede that
useful work can be done under adverse conditions?

DHT