Ideas sought for C++ preprocessor

Anybody out there interested in a new C/C++ preprocessor?


                I'm currently working on a C++ compiler which translates C++ to
(K&R) C and is supposed to run on every machine with a working C
compiler that supports a `certain standard'.


                As part of that project I'm now concerned with the preprecessor
and the idea came to my mind to take the chance and implement one that
includes all kinds of nice features we always wanted to see.


                But what features are that?


                Well of course I thought of a few (and stole some from the GNU
preprocessor) but I'm sure there's more to it. To give you an idea of
what I'm thinking of, take these for example:


- Warnings are (optionally) given for #undef's which clear macros that
are not defined - this may help track down some kinds of errors.


- A special file may be created that contains a list of all included
files (I first saw this as a feature of the GNU preprocessor and I liked
it immediately).


                The features must be well suited for a preprocessor and of
course they may *not* violate the standard behaviour. What I'm really
looking for are (not neccesarily ingenious) ideas that could
be useful in certain situations - the kind of `Ooooh I wish my
preprocessor could do this for me now!'


                Because of the fact that a C++ preprocessor is very much the
same as an ANSI C preprocessor I will only write one program that can
handle both. So your suggestions may refer to C features and C++
features as well.


Any ideas? I can't wait to hear about them!


My address: Michael Brandt
                        K03B@DHBRRZ41 (BITNET)
                        (no internet address - sorry)
--

Return to the comp.compilers page.
Search the comp.compilers archives again.