C Language Preprocessor and Macros #if 0 to block out code sections
Example
If there are sections of code that you are considering removing or want to temporarily disable, you can comment it out with a block comment.
/* Block comment around whole function to keep it from getting used.
* What's even the purpose of this function?
int myUnusedFunction(void)
{
int i = 5;
return i;
}
*/
However, if the source code you have surrounded with a block comment has block style comments in the source, the ending */ of the existing block comments can cause your new block comment to be invalid and cause compilation problems.
/* Block comment around whole function to keep it from getting used.
* What's even the purpose of this function?
int myUnusedFunction(void)
{
int i = 5;
/* Return 5 */
return i;
}
*/
In the previous example, the last two lines of the function and the last '*/' are seen by the compiler, so it would compile with errors. A safer method is to use an #if 0 directive around the code you want to block out.
#if 0
/* #if 0 evaluates to false, so everything between here and the #endif are
* removed by the preprocessor. */
int myUnusedFunction(void)
{
int i = 5;
return i;
}
#endif
A benefit with this is that when you want to go back and find the code, it's much easier to do a search for "#if 0" than searching all your comments.
Another very important benefit is that you can nest commenting out code with #if 0. This cannot be done with comments.
An alternative to using #if 0 is to use a name that will not be #defined but is more descriptive of why the code is being blocked out. For instance if there is a function that seems to be useless dead code you might use #if defined(POSSIBLE_DEAD_CODE) or #if defined(FUTURE_CODE_REL_020201) for code needed once other functionality is in place or something similar. Then when going back through to remove or enable that source, those sections of source are easy to find.
