[fpc-pascal] Proper preprocessor?

[Sven Barth]

Michael Van Canneyt <michael at freepascal.org> schrieb am Fr., 22. Juni 2018,
08:01:

>
>
> On Fri, 22 Jun 2018, Ryan Joseph wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >> On Jun 22, 2018, at 12:21 PM, Michael Van Canneyt <
> michael at freepascal.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> 'Nice' is not an argument.
> >>
> >> If someone else assumes that assert() works as expected - i.e. throws
> an exception, then your macro will mess up his code, leading to
> >> unpredictable results.
> >>
> >> From my - admittedly subjective - point of view, your examples only
> serve to demonstrate why we should definitely not support macros...
> >
> > For any example I can give it’s easy to extrapolate into some scenario
> where it would be a disaster. I get that. The reason I ever wanted to make
> a macro was for personal use to give some project specific meaning to some
> construct or a quick hack. Frameworks like Apple uses,  often use macros to
> document parts of code in a way which otherwise isn’t part of the language
> and no suitable for comments. I’m not saying this is how we all should
> program. I don’t suggest people go out and start using macros in place of
> functions.
> >
> > Btw why was the $define:= syntax ever introduced in the first place?
> > adding a parameter to the syntax is a minor extension but it sounds like
> > Pascal programers here really don’t like it in general.
>
> A good and just question. We most likely didn't realize the consequences.
> Meanwhile we're older, more experienced and we now know what impact
> seemingly
> good ideas can have...
>

They were added for MacPascal compatibility:
http://wiki.freepascal.org/Mode_MacPas

Regards,
Sven
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