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some doubts about the style of C code comments

I have some doubts about the style of C code comments. like this:

/* \brief Creates a new shm pcm */

sometimes it like this:

/* \!brief Creates a new shm PCM */

What is the difference between the "\brief" and "\!brief"

Solution

  • Those are comments meant for DoxyGen, a system to generate documentation from the source code.

    For the compiler, there is absolutely no difference at all.

    DoxyGen expects /*! */ and /** */ to flag that the comments are meant for it, see the documentation.

    As albert mentioned, it looks like that in src/pcm/pcm.c some years back someone confused /*! \brief ... with /* \!brief