Date:         Wed, 19 Sep 2001 18:04:22 +0100
Reply-To:     John Whittington <John.W@MEDISCIENCE.CO.UK>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         John Whittington <John.W@MEDISCIENCE.CO.UK>
Subject:      Re: SAS Comments
Comments: To: Cassell.David@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV
In-Reply-To:  <E15jkee-0003E9-00@relay1.netnames.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 09:53 19/09/01 -0700, David L. Cassell wrote:

>I agree.  But let me point out one analogue where this is an issue.  An
>unmatched quote inside a %*...; comment can wreak untold havoc.

Yes, I realise that;  my comments related only to *...; comments, not
%*...; ones.

>A good point, but I have an alternative that I use instead.
>
>I prefer to use the "%MACRO SKIP" routine.  I find it is safer to block
>out large chunks of code like this:

Indeed, that is the best way of 'blocking out' code - but the point is that
YOU might not be the person subsequently working on code that I
wrote.  That person might be one of the many who DO use /*...*/ to 'comment
out' blocks of code, in which case my use of that type of comment syntax
would be creating the minefield for him/her to walk into.  That's why I
don't use it for comments.

Kind Regards,


John

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