White space is used to delimit other constructs. IDL defines the following white space constructs:
· A space
· A carriage return
· A horizontal tab
· A form feed at the beginning of a line
· A comment
· A sequence of one or more of the preceding white space constructs
A keyword identifier, or number not preceded by a punctuation character must be preceded by white space. A keyword, identifier, or number not followed by a punctuation character must be followed by white space. Unless we note otherwise, any punctuation character may be preceded and/or followed by white space.
When enclosed in " '' (double quotes) or ' ' (single quotes), white space constructs are treated literally. Otherwise, they serve only to separate other lexical elements and are ignored.
The character sequence /* (slash and asterisk) begins a comment, and the character sequence */ (asterisk and slash) ends a comment. For example:
/* all natural */
import "potato.idl"; /* no preservatives */
Comments do not nest.