[C2x] Disallow function attributes after function identifier

[Alejandro Colomar via Gcc]

Hi, Joseph!

I'd like to suggest a change in C2x regarding attributes.



[[attr]] type f(params);
type f [[attr]](params);

I'd argue against the second one, for the following reasons:

Right now, the draft allows function attributes to go right at the beginning of a function prototype, or just before the opening parenthesis: C programmers are used to the "f(...)" notation so much that it would be a bit confusing to change that. See for example a linux-man@ discussion: <https://lore.kernel.org/linux-man/d015464c-714d-771e-6829-c1032efab...@cs.ucla.edu/T/#u>.

Not only that, but it's common practise to hide attributes in macros, as in:

#if __STDC_VERSION__ > 201710L
#define my_inline [[gnu::always_inline]]
#else
#define my_inline __attribute__((__always_inline__))
#endif

Now see a valid C2x function prototype:

my_inline type f(params);
type f my_inline(params);








'(?s)^[\w[]([\w\s\(,\)[\]*]|::)+[\w\s\)*\]]\s+\**'"$1"'\s*\(([\w\s\(,\)[\]*]|::)+?(\.\.\.)?\)([\w\s\(,\)[\]]|::)*;'

I hope no-one will ever write that code, even if ISO C ever allows it, but I'd rather see ISO C to forbid that aberration. And, as much as that becomes human unreadable, it also makes it impossible for simple utils to parse C code. I'm writing a PCRE-based tool that finds declarations and definitions within source code repositories. It's already quite good, if we take into account it's simplicity. Since it doesn't involve anything close to a compiler, it can only make a best guess, based on the assumption that the code follows some sane coding style. For example, the PCRE regex for finding a function prototype is See the whole program (sh(1) script): <http://www.alejandro-colomar.es/src/alx/alx/grepc.git/>

So, could you please drop that from C2x?


Cheers,

Alex




--
Alejandro Colomar
Linux man-pages comaintainer; http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/
http://www.alejandro-colomar.es/

That would be completely broken if anything could go after the function identifier. P.S.: The latest draft that I know of is N2731. I guess there are newer ones. Could you please name the latest one?

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