Re: [RFC/RFA?] Should break FILE:LINENO skip prologue?

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz at gnu dot org>]

> Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:02:24 -0800
> From: Joel Brobecker <brobecker@adacore.com>
> Cc: Jim Blandy <jimb@codesourcery.com>, mark.kettenis@xs4all.nl,
> 	uweigand@de.ibm.com, msnyder@specifix.com,
> 	gdb-patches@sourceware.org
> 
> >  @item @var{function}
> >  Specifies the line that begins the body of the function @var{function}.
> > -For example: in C, this is the line with the open brace.
> > +For example, in C, this is the line with the open brace.
> 
> This is actually not true. It's usually the first line of code
> past the open brace.

You seem to be thinking about source code formatted according to GNU
coding standards ;-) But C allows code to appear on the same line as
the open brace, so it's not simple to say this with absolute accuracy.
I think on balance, the current wording is not bad: after all, why
should a GDB user care whether the brace itself does or does not
generate executable code?

> > As a convenience, @value{GDBN} extends the semantics of
> > +expressions used in locations to cover the situations that frequently
> > +happen during debugging.
> 
> I was a little bit confused at first by this sentence, as I thought
> that you were saying that all the forms you are describing later are
> extensions, which as you explain for C/C++/etc is not the case.
> At the same time, I found it pretty hard to try to do better.

How about if I say that the extension is in addition to the ``normal''
expression syntax?  Like this:

  Here @var{address} may be any expression valid in the current working
  language (@pxref{Languages, working language}) that specifies a code
  address.  In addition, as a convenience, @value{GDBN} extends the
  semantics of expressions...