C++ Syntax Error Issue

[homecheese101]

Hello all,

I am new to C++ and I need a little help. I am debugging some code I wrote, and I get the following error:


Error: String literal syntax error /Users/Desktop/macros/De.C:272:
Error: << Illegal operator for pointer 3 /Users/Desktop/macros/De.C:272:
Error: << Illegal operator for real number /Users/Desktop/macros/De.C:272:
(class G__CINT_ENDL)31961104
*** Interpreter error recovered ***


The interesting thing is that lines 250-290 are completely commented out. Isn't commented line skipped over?

I've also deleted white space out above the code, and the error moves accordingly- it's targeting a single line that's commented out. The line is:

// display << "De" << endl; 

I'm sure the display file is opened/closed right. The file is written to in other places and no error is generated.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated. I just never thought that code that's commented out could cause an error...isn't that part of the idea behind commenting?

thanks

[firedraco]

Can I see the entire commented code? Make sure that you don't have stuff like this:

/*
comment
/*
comment
*/
uh oh, not commented!
*/ //errors! 

[homecheese101]

Sure, the code itself is quite long, but here's the part of interest (i'm sure the problem lies somewhere else though):

/* // Output  
 These calculations use histograms...check only
  display << "OLD WAY OF DOING THINGS...." << endl;
  display << "FULL RAPIDITY " << endl;
  display << "<N> from ROOT: "             << MeanN << endl;
  display << "<Pt> from ROOT: "            << MeanPt << endl;	
  display << "<pt> = <Pt>/<N> from ROOT: " << Mean_pt << endl;
  display << "Var(N) from ROOT: "           << Var_N << endl;
  display << "Cov(N,E) from ROOT: "        << Cov_NE << endl;  


// Use counters for calculations
  display << " " << endl;
  display << "De" << endl;
  display << "NEW WAY OF DOING THINGS...." << endl; 
  display <<  TotalPt << "TotalPt" << endl;                           
  display << "<Pt>: " << TotalPt/NumberOfEvents << endl;
  display << "<pt> = <Pt>/<N>:" << (TotalPt/double(NumberOfEvents))/Nchavg << endl;
  display << endl;

// D charged
  display << "For D: " << endl;
  display << "<N>_ch =" << Nchavg << endl;
  display << "<pt> = " << AveragePt/f<< endl;
  display << "The sum of (N_ch-<N_ch>)(Pt-<Pt>):" << f << endl;
  display << "The actual covariance(N_ch,Pt): " << F << endl;
  display << "The sum of (N_ch - <N_ch>)^2: " << h << endl;
  display << "The actual Variance(N_ch): " << H << endl;
  display << "D this way is: " << (F-(AveragePt/Nchavg)*(H))/(Nchavg*Nchavg) << endl;
  display << endl;
*/

So I'm outputing titles and variables to a file, line by line.

I understand this may not be the most efficient way of doing this, but it has worked in the past and still should.

Have you seen something like this before? thanks,

[R0mai]

It doesn't seems like there is a problem with this, maybe send some more code (a bit before and a bit after the comment), or try

#if 0
//commented code here
#endif 

These preprocessor style comments can nest and you can uncomment it only by replacing #if 0 with #if 1

[guestgulkan]

I notice that the error mentions the << operator and the file name is De.C.
Are you using C++ operations in a C file??

(or more to the point - shouldn't your file be called de.cpp instead of de.C ??)

[homecheese101]

I thought I had poured over all the code countless times, and as I went to post some code after the snippet I posted previously, I found the error:

// Use counters for calculations
  display << " " << endl;
  display << "De" << endl;
  display << "NEW WAY OF DOING THINGS...." << endl; 
  display <<  TotalPt << "TotalPt" << endl;                           
  display << "<Pt>: " << TotalPt/NumberOfEvents << endl;
  display << "<pt> = <Pt>/<N>:" << (TotalPt/double(NumberOfEvents))/Nchavg << endl;
  display << endl;

// D charged
  display << "For D: " << endl;
  display << "<N>_ch =" << Nchavg << endl;
  display << "<pt> = " << AveragePt/f<< endl;
  display << "The sum of (N_ch-<N_ch>)(Pt-<Pt>):" << f << endl;
  display << "The actual covariance(N_ch,Pt): " << F << endl;
  display << "The sum of (N_ch - <N_ch>)^2: " << h << endl;
  display << "The actual Variance(N_ch): " << H << endl;
  display << "D this way is: " << (F-(AveragePt/Nchavg)*(H))/(Nchavg*Nchavg) << endl;
  display << endl;
*/

  display << "Max output: " << MaximumVal << endl;
  display << "Min output: " << MinimumVal << endl;
  display << "Max input: " << Maxinput << end
  display << "Min input:" << Mininput << endl;

On the second line from the bottom, you can see the error. I still think it's kinda weird that the error prints so far from where it actually occurred, but I'm grateful to find it nonetheless. Thanks for your suggestion R0mai.

guestgulkan,

I believe you're also right but I'm not compiling this code in just something like Microsoft Visual, it's more of a C/C++ hybrid front end which I use in my work. Thanks for your help.

and now i just feel dumb....