Reserved Word - Reserved Words and Language Independence

Reserved Words and Language Independence

Microsoft’s .NET Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) specification allows code written in 40+ different programming languages to be combined together into a final product. Because of this, identifier/reserved word collisions can occur when code implemented in one language tries to execute code written in another language. For example, a Visual Basic.NET library may contain a class definition such as:

' Class Definition of This in Visual Basic.NET: Public Class this ' This class does something... End Class

If this is compiled and distributed as part of a toolbox, a C# programmer, wishing to define a variable of type “this” would encounter a problem: 'this' is a reserved word in C#. Thus, the following will not compile in C#:

// Using This Class in C#: this x = new this; // Won't compile!

A similar issue arises when accessing members, overriding virtual methods, and identifying namespaces.

In order to work around this issue, the specification allows the programmer to (in C#) place the at-sign before the identifier which forces it to be considered an identifier rather than a reserved word by the compiler.

// Using This Class in C#: @this x = new @this; // Will compile!

For consistency, this usage is also permitted in non-public settings such as local variables, parameter names, and private members.

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Famous quotes containing the words reserved, words, language and/or independence:

    “This is that which we call Character,—a reserved force which acts directly by presence, and without means.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    ““When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.””
    —Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)

    “Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.”
    —Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)

    “Traditionally in American society, men have been trained for both competition and teamwork through sports, while women have been reared to merge their welfare with that of the family, with fewer opportunities for either independence or other team identifications, and fewer challenges to direct competition. In effect, women have been circumscribed within that unit where the benefit of one is most easily believed to be the benefit of all.”
    —Mary Catherine Bateson (b. 1939)