Re: gcc preprocessor bug ?

[Nilmoni Deb <ndeb at ece dot cmu dot edu>]

On Thu, 10 Apr 2003, Neil Booth wrote:

> Nilmoni Deb wrote:-
> 
> > 
> > Hi,
> > 	I compiled the following program with both gcc-2.95.3 and
> > gcc-3.2.1 and in both cases it compiled ok and ran ok (printed "i=10").
> > 
> > #include<stdio.h>
> > 
> > #define MAX 10;
> > 
> > main()
> > {
> > int i=MAX;
> > printf("i=%d\n", i);
> > 
> > /* int *j=0;
> > j = (int*)malloc(MAX*sizeof(int)); */
> > }
> > 
> > Now, if I uncomment the last two lines, then the compiler gives the error:
> > file.c:11: parse error before ';' token
> > 
> > Now, if I remove the ";" from the #define statement, it compiles ok.
> > 
> > Shouldn't the preprocessor always give an error for a #define statement
> > ending in ";" ? It seems it does not do so consistently.
> 
> I think you're confused by what the preprocessor does and what the
> compiler does.

Not quite. I just used the term compiler in a more inclusive way.

Anyway, its obvious that the preprocessor is probably substituting "10;"
for MAX everywhere so that line 11 is getting an error later from the
compiler. Would it be too much to expect the preprocessor to handle it
more wisely ?

> 
> Neil.
>