>>>>> "Paul" == Paul Eggert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Paul> Sorry, I don't quite follow: are you worried that users will
Paul> often write awk programs that generate configure scripts?
More precisely any kind of Autom4te input file. But it doesn't really
matter, I was looking for inert characters, and & is not. But it
doesn't really matter, since anyway @ for a start is already special
for some tools, typically Perl.
Paul> Unless I'm missing something, I don't think it'll be much of a
Paul> problem in practice. People who play with regular expressions
Paul> have to learn the syntax.
:P
:)
Paul> I should give some credit to the @&t@ pun. The "&" is my own
Paul> invention, but the "t" came from the source code of the ALGOL68C
Paul> compiler, written by Steve Bourne (of Bourne shell fame),
Is there is any place where I could actually make my education and
learn such things? I mean, I have a great deal of respect for Algol
68, but I know very little about its history. Algol is responsible
for the CS quote that makes me ROTFLMAO each time I just think about
it.
Algol 60 was an improvment on most of its successors
-- C. A. R. Hoare
Paul> I don't know where he got "mt" from: it could have been his own
Paul> invention, and I suppose it could have been a common pun around
Paul> the Cambridge University computer lab at the time.
Thanks for all these details. I hope you don't mind they become Perl
comments in autom4te :)
