[erlang-questions] Multi-line comments in Erlang

[Ryan Zezeski]

On Dec 9, 2010, at 4:48 AM, "Zvi ." <zvi.avraham@REDACTED> wrote:
> 
> 
> 3. Free format is the king! Language designers shouldn't dictate programmers
> how to format and ident their code.
> How differnt is starting comment line from '%' in Erlang, from putting 'C'
> or '*' in the first column in FORTRAN?
> 
> Zvi
> 

Really?  If free format is king then why does every lang have common code conventions?  For example, I hate CamelCase but that doesn't mean I'm going to start naming my variables camel_case in Java because my coworkers would take me out back and beat me.

There should always be a middle ground between extremes but without some type of common conventions our code would be a tower of babel, more so than it already is.  People make certain assumptions, and when you break those assumptions confusion, contempt, and even bugs can ensue.

I don't see the need for multiline comments as described in this thread.  Any reputable editor can handle it.  I know I have no problems in Emacs or Vim.

I also know in the past multiline comments in C++ has bitten me because I nested them in order to comment out code.  As has been said, good SCM takes care of this for you, git stash and branch come to mind.

-Ryan