"Hand-written" generated code

[willfaught]

What do you think about generating code that, to all appearances, was written by hand? I think more programmers would be willing to use generated code if it felt "cleaner". This question came to mind when I came across the fileHeader template:

fileHeader(grammarFileName, ANTLRVersion) ::= <<
// Generated from <grammarFileName; format="java-escape"> by ANTLR <ANTLRVersion>
>>

[pboyer]

@willfaught I don't think we should remove this comment. Here's why:

1. All gen'ed code from ANTLR is similarly labeled. This would keep things consistent.
2. The header comment ensures that it's clear that a generator will do a full rewrite, blowing away any "hand" changes to the code.
3. It provides valuable generator version labeling, which can be used to bring generated code back to a known safe state.
4. If a dev doesn't want the label, they can remove it at their own risk. They can use a simple script if they want.

[willfaught]

All good points. Agreed.