Re: Is this a gcc bug?

[dewar at gnat dot com]

<<I must say this is a very confusing error message, especally to
someone who does is not aware of the problem.  I'm not sure I could
even begin to guess what it meant!
>>

Well it is hard to make error messages meaningful in a case where someone
does not know the language. At the very least this warning will warn someone
that this is the case (that there is something they don't know about). For
anyone who knows C, this is certainly an OK message.

I am all in favor of trying to make the message a little clearer if possible,
but the important thing is to have SOME warning come out that will warn
someone that they either are doing something wrong that they will understand
immediately, or that they need help because there is something they don't
understand.

it is always tricky to know whether to aim messages at someone who knows
the language or someone who does not, or somewhere in between.

(reminds me of when my son worked at Tower Records, in the classical
dept, and when someone would ask "what's playing", he had to make a
judgment on whether to say

Beethoven's Fifth

or

This is the remastered Berlin Philharmonic performance with Karjan conducting

and if he got it wrong, he got either a blank stare, or annoyance :-)