I remember some discussion about this. In reality, a C comment really requires you to type 8 characters, because putting anything adjacent to the /* or */ looks terrible. Many languages used single characters (e.g., # for make). The argument was "if you make comments easier to type, you'll get more of them in the code" (viz. the Unix kernel). I'm guessing Bjarne was aware of these discussions, although I don't remember specifically that he was...
Steve
----- Original Message -----
To:
<tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org>, <rminnich@gmail.com>
Cc:
Sent:
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 11:17:28 -0700
Subject:
Re: [TUHS] // comment in C++
ron minnich <rminnich@gmail.com> wrote:
> I've always wondered if this was done in honor of JCL, as sort of a riff on
> the dd command. Anyone know?
>
> ron
I'm fairly certain it was originally in BCPL.
You could just drop a note to Bjarne Stroustrup and ask. :-)
Arnold