OSF DCE Application Development Guide--Core Components

Interface Definition Language
alphabetic character.
No IDL identifier can exceed 31 characters. In some cases, an identifier has a shorter
maximum length because the IDL compiler uses the identifier as a base from which to
construct other identifiers; we identify such cases as they occur.
17.3.2 Keywords
IDL reserves some identifiers as keywords. In the text of this chapter, keywords are
represented in bold typeface, and identifiers chosen by application developers are
represented in italic typeface.
17.3.3 Punctuation Characters
IDL uses the following graphic characters:
"’()*,./:;|=[\]{}
The { (left brace) and } (right brace) characters are national replacement set characters
that may not be available on all keyboards. Wherever IDL specifies a left brace, the ??<
trigraph may be substituted. Wherever IDL specifies a right brace, the ??> trigraph may
be substituted.
Use of these trigraph sequences adds the following punctuation characters to the set in
the preceding list:
<>?
17.3.4 Whitespace
Whitespace is used to delimit other constructs. IDL defines the following whitespace
constructs:
• A space
• A carriage return
• A horizontal tab
• A form feed at the beginning of a line
• A comment
• A sequence of one or more of the preceding whitespace constructs
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