Are preprocessors obsolete in modern languages?

Posted by Earlz on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Earlz
Published on 2010-05-30T21:38:41Z Indexed on 2010/05/30 21:42 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 510

Filed under:

language-agnostic

|

preprocessor

|

language-design

Hello, I'm making a simple compiler for a simple pet language I'm creating and coming from a C background(though I'm writing it in Ruby) I wondered if a preprocessor is necessary.

What do you think? Is a "dumb" preprocessor still necessary in modern languages? Would C#'s conditional compilation capabilities be considered a "preprocessor"? Does every modern language that doesn't include a preprocessor have the utilities necessary to properly replace it? (for instance, the C++ preprocessor is now mostly obsolete(though still depended upon) because of templates.)

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about language-agnostic

Are there any language agnostic unit testing frameworks?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I have always been skeptical of rewriting working code - porting code is no exception to this. However, with the advent of TDD and automated testing it is much more reasonable to rewrite and refactor code. Does anyone know if there is a TDD tool that can be used for porting old code? Ideally you… >>> More
Language Agnostic Basic Programming Question

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
This is very basic question from programming point of view but as I am in learning phase, I thought I would better ask this question rather than having a misunderstanding or narrow knowledge about the topic. So do excuse me if somehow I mess it up. Question: Let's say I have class A,B,C and D… >>> More
Language-agnostic term for typed things that need memory

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Is there an accepted general term that subsumes the concepts of variables, class instances and arrays? Basically "any typed thing that needs memory". In C++, such a thing is called an object, but I'm looking for a more language-agnostic term. § 1.8 The C++ object model 1 The constructs in… >>> More
Deprecated Methods in Code Base

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
A lot of the code I've been working on recently, both professionally (read: at work) and in other spheres (read: at home, for friends/family/etc, or NOT FOR WORK), has been worked on, redesigned and re-implemented several times - where possible/required. This has been in an effort to make things smaller… >>> More
Coding Competition, language agnostic guidelines?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi there: I might be doing a coding competition soon, I was wondering if anyone made one and what where the guidelines/ process. I'd like to make the competition appealing to all devs, and I m trying to come up with ideas as to how. the scenario is: There is an event running and we(of the coding… >>> More

Related posts about preprocessor

Any other preprocessor directives in VBScript/Classic ASP?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
The only pre-process directive that I know about in VBScript / Classic ASP is the #include. I don't know if that is the official name but I'm basically looking for code that can execute code or other instructions before the general VBScript. Are there any other such directives in VBScript? Such as… >>> More
Visual Studio 2008 Preprocessor wierdness

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
We have set-up a simple versioning system for our builds to ensure the built files always indicate whether they are Beta Debug or Beta Release builds I moved the file version info to to myapp.rc2 and created version.h // version.h // _DEBUG is defined by VS #define _BETA #ifdef… >>> More
Writing preprocessor directives to get string

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Can you write preprocessor directives to return you a std::string or char*? For example: In case of integers: #define square(x) (x*x) int main() { int x = square(5); } I'm looking to do the same but with strings like a switch-case pattern. if pass 1 it should return "One" and 2 for "Two" so… >>> More
Are preprocessors obsolete in modern languages?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hello, I'm making a simple compiler for a simple pet language I'm creating and coming from a C background(though I'm writing it in Ruby) I wondered if a preprocessor is necessary. What do you think? Is a "dumb" preprocessor still necessary in modern languages? Would C#'s conditional compilation capabilities… >>> More
The Bizarre Hidden Powers of the Preprocessor? [closed]

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
The preprocessor in C and C++ deserves an entire essay on its own to explore its rich possibilities for obfuscation. It is true that the C++ (and C) preprocessor can be used for a lot of powerful stuff. #ifdefs and #defines are often used to determine platforms, compilers and backends. Manipulating… >>> More