Re: cc-mode fontification feels random

[Stefan Monnier]

>> E.g. in ELisp, what looks like a defun might actually be in the middle
>> of a string and there's no reliable way to know if something's in
>> a string other than to parse from BOB.
>> In C the situation is somewhat similar but for comments.
>
> So you are saying we need that just to know where the current defun
> begins?

Not really: the dependency goes the other way around.

The real question is "given a POS determine whether it is inside
a string or a comment or neither", which we need in all kinds of
circumstances (sometimes we need a bit more info than that, of course,
but this one is the killer).

Approaches like `open-paren-in-column-0-is-defun-start` try to answer
this question without parsing from BOB by making an assumption that if
something looks like a defun, then it is neither inside a string nor
a comment.


        Stefan