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Comments

Comments document a script and are discarded by the PascalScript compiler. Velox's current parser recognises all three familiar Object Pascal forms.

Syntax​

// A single-line comment ends at the line break.

{ A brace comment can span lines. }

(* A star-parenthesis comment can also span lines. *)

Use comments to explain intent, source assumptions, sentinel meanings and why a non-obvious Velox call is safe. Do not use them to preserve obsolete code or hide credentials, customer data or production endpoints.

How it works​

The PascalScript lexer scans // to the next line ending, { to the next }, and (* to the next *). Unless a caller explicitly asks the parser to return comments, it skips the resulting comment tokens before grammar processing. Line counters still advance through multi-line comments so diagnostics retain useful positions.

Velox enables the preprocessor before compilation. Consequently, brace text that begins with a supported directive such as {$I ...} or {$INCLUDE ...} is processed as an include, not discarded as an ordinary explanatory comment.

Example​

procedure ScriptEvent(var Value: Variant);
begin
  // Preserve database null; trim only assigned text.
  if not (VarIsNull(Value) or VarIsEmpty(Value) or VarIsClear(Value)) then
    Value := Trim(VarToStr(Value));
end;

The example is source-reviewed and explains the reason for the guard rather than restating the next line.

Common mistakes​

  • Forgetting the closing } or *); the lexer emits a comment error and stops at end-of-file.
  • Expecting nested block comments. The Velox parser stops at the first matching closing delimiter and does not implement Free Pascal's nested-comment behaviour.
  • Commenting out a region that already contains the same block delimiter; use line comments or remove the code cleanly.
  • Treating {$I Name} as harmless text; it requests an include.
  • Putting sensitive data in comments. Comments remain in source, logs, repositories and documentation even though they are not executed.

Edge cases and quirks​

  • // inside a quoted string is text, not a comment, because the string token is scanned first.
  • A brace comment and (* ... *) can span lines; a // comment cannot.
  • Free Pascal can support nested comments in some modes, whereas Velox's current PascalScript lexer does not. The external references describe broader language behaviour and must not override the Velox rule.
  • XML documentation comment conventions are not used to generate Velox Code Library metadata.
  • Includes — preprocessor directives that use brace syntax.
  • Compilation errors — unterminated comment diagnostics.

External references​