[pro] #; comments...

[Pascal Costanza]

Hi,

I'm thinking about writing up a CDR on #;-style comments. Currently, if you want to comment out a form from CL code, there is no standard way of doing this. Many people use something like #+nil, or similar tricks, but this is not 100% reliable. R6RS Scheme introduced #; as a solution, and this seems to become somewhat popular in CL as well.

Here is a suggested wording.

------------- snip -----------------

#; is used to comment out single expressions; the syntax is /#; expression/. This textual notation is treated as whitespace; that is, it is as if the ``#; expression'' did not appear and only a space appeared in its place.

#; operates by skipping over the form. Skipping over the form is accomplished by binding *read-suppress* to true and then calling read.

------------- snip -----------------

The text is based on 2.4.8.17 of the HyperSpec. Yes, this would be a fairly short CDR document.

Any comments or ideas about this?


Best,
Pascal

--
Pascal Costanza