HI Andy,
We really need compiler directives in a standard format.
There are several examples of RFCs that contain MIB modules that
the ADs know are illegal. And they are published anyway! Why,
because illegal stuff was put it, it wasn't checked, agents
and managers used it, and to change it to make it legal would
be a bigger impact than to fix it. Directives would be one way
to flag such illegal usage.
I share your concern about readability, and don't want to negatively
impact readability. But there really is a need for a standard
way to specify compiler directives, and to have a few standard
ones. If you do not feel that it is appropriate to have directives
defined as part of the language (like that is with the definition
with ANSI-C), then we can create a separate document that is
for compiler writers that defines the directives. Also we
can say that RFCs cannot contain modules with compiler directives.
Then later on after some experience, we can decide if it makes
sense to keep the documents separate or to combine them.
I am not sure if a seperate document would help. As a compiler writer