Submitter: WG21
Submission Date: 2004-10-26
Source: WG21
Reference Document: ISO/IEC
WG14 N1068
Version: 1.0
Date: 2006-03-05
Subject: Clarify that source files et al. need not be
"files"
Summary
I do not recall the specific motivation for adding this note, but it's certainly true, and it seems harmless.
It should be noted that in the C++ standard, this text is an embedded non-normative note at the end of the description of phase 7 (parsing and semantic analysis). But the C standard does not have embedded notes, and the note is not actually specific to phase 7 (which talks principally about tokens, without even mentioning files). Adding the text to this footnote, which already points out an implication of the as-if rule for the phases of translation, would seem to be the ideal solution.
Suggested Technical Corrigendum
Change footnote 5 (5.1.1.2p1):
Implementations shall behave as if these separate phases occur, even though many are typically folded together in practice. Source files, translation units and translated translation units need not necessarily be stored as files, nor need there be any one-to-one correspondence between these entities and any external representation. The description is conceptual only, and does not specify any particular implementation.
Technical Corrigendum
Change footnote 5 (5.1.1.2p1):
Implementations shall behave as if these separate phases occur, even though many are typically folded together in practice. Source files, translation units and translated translation units need not necessarily be stored as files, nor need there be any one-to-one correspondence between these entities and any external representation. The description is conceptual only, and does not specify any particular implementation.