Maurice Lombardi wrote:

What about command line defines, as

gpc -DPostScript ...

would it be case sensitive ? I would prefer no, but is there any problem ?

Oh right. I forgot to mention them, it's good you did...

Well, I think the implicit defines (`__GPC__', `__FOO_PASCAL__', `DJGPP', etc.) should remain case-sensitive.

For user-supplied options, we have the choice. Again, I see reasons to have case-sensitive ones, too. E.g., I have some programs which work alternatively with GMP (multi-presicion) or normal numbers, and I use `-DGMP' to select the GMP version. Since the unit is also called `GMP', it would conflict if it's case-insensitive (whereas now I can write `uses Gmp' to avoid a conflict).

So, we could allow both on the command-line as well, we'd just need different option names.

The problem is that `--define' in GCC is equivalent to `-D' and case-sensitive, and I think we shouldn't change this to keep interoperability with GCC as good as it is now. But we could add a new option for case-insensitive defines.

J. David Bryan wrote:

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OTOH, something like {$define-case-sensitive} would make it clear, but it's very long.

{$define-cs} would be OK (better than {$definecs} only because the "cs" part stands out better with the hyphen).

I'd vote against the hyphen because it's an acronym that follows. BTW, since the directive itself is case-insensitive, you could write it as {$DefineCS} to make it clearer...

Dr A Olowofoyeku wrote:

On 7 Apr 00, at 0:53, Peter Gerwinski wrote:

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Dr A Olowofoyeku wrote:

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Why not use {$define} for case insensitive and #define for case sensitive ? Since case-sensitivity is a C thing, we might as well keep #define (which is also a C thing) for that purpose. Advantage? It avoids the introduction of new constructs.

I see the advantages. But in fact we want to get rid of unpascalish things such as #define and promote alternatives like {$define}.

I see. In this case I vote for {$csdefine} ('Case Sensitive Define') or {$cdefine}.

With the above consideration about the command line, I suggest perhaps `csdefine' and `cidefine' for case-sensitive/-insensitive defines. Both would work on the command-line and as compiler directives. Besides, `define' as a directive is case-insensitive (because of BP) and `--define' on the command line is case-sensitive (because of GCC).

Or the same with `definecs', `defineci'.

Frank