[GD-General] RE: Preprocessors

[Jesse J. <jes...@mi...>]

At 12:20 PM -0800 1/2/02, Steve Rabin wrote:
>  > Or the belief that languages shouldn't have preprocessors because the
>>  C preprocessor was so gross; inevitably you lose major functionality
>>  like "#ifdef 0/#endif" and the language designers defend it to the
>>  end.
>
>I'm glad to see people acknowledging that the C preprocessor is a 
>powerful tool and not something to be shunned unconditionally. Used 
>improperly, you can cut off your own leg, but the same is true for a 
>chainsaw - yet both are still useful tools.
>
>I'm so sick of hearing over and over again about the evils of 
>preprocessors that I'm writing an article for Game Programming Gems 
>3 on "Finding Redeeming Value in C-Style Macros." Since the article 
>is still in-progress, I was wondering if I could pick the brains of 
>the people on this list... Currently, I have about eight pretty good 
>macro tricks, but I'm open to adding more.

If you haven't seen it already, you should also check out the boost 
preprocessor library (see 
<http://www.boost.org/libs/preprocessor/doc/index.htm>). It's a 
rather extensive library for preprocessor programming.

   -- Jesse