[GTALUG] [OT] first stanza in css not understood

[Paul King]

> | From: Paul King <sciguy at vex.net>
> 
> | Thanks for your help. I didn't know that // wasn't a comment, my VIM editor 
> | seemed to highlught it that way, and it also seemed harmless as long as the CSS 

ugh! "CSS" should have read "Javascript"!

On 3 Apr 2016 at 10:12, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:

<snip> 

> If you want to check for errors, use some verifier: something tasked
> with being picky.  It used to be that "validator" was useful.
> <https://validator.w3.org/>
> <https://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/>

I have read articles on this, and I don't think validator is useless in itself. 
I think what people seem to feel is that validation (in the sense of linting) 
of code is something that these days are done in most text editors like 
brackets, vim and emacs. Indeed, vim is good at things like checking parens, 
but obviously, as has been demonstrated, not as good at flagging improper 
commenting. Validator "used to be useful" because coders are relying too much 
on their editing tools (like I just did), meaning that it is still useful if 
you are serious. I agree that browsers appear to be designed to too readily 
accept crap code as legit, and it creates an illusion of validator's 
irrelevance.

Paul