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Comment by moonchild | Hacker News Reader

The modern notation contains a very similar 'ambiguity'. Compare: x---y, x-- - y, and x - --y.

And sadly x-----y won't parse :(

It's been a while I used C, but I for one am kind of glad that doesn't parse. If you need to do this, you can use parentheses:

    x - (--y)

    (x--) - y

All parse fine, and unambiguously, due to the maximal munch rule.

x---y is (x--)-y, which is semantically valid.

x-----y is ((x--)--)-y - but it's a semantic error, as x-- is not an lvalue.