Why C/C++ errors are SO obscure/devious??

Hello,

I'm not a C newbie, but I'm teaching C programming (well... FIRST programming and then C) to other guys these days and it's driving me to some reflexions on the language.

It's not uncommon to forget a } writing code, and at compiling time get an error 18956778 lines after the mistake, in an otherwise absolutely correct piece of code. Or, sometimes in my journeys I got errors reported in a file, checked and found it correct, and discovered it was caused by an error in another file. And in general, I noted that many, if not all, error messages from the compiler are VERY short and cryptic, while a couple of words more could sometimes help a lot in understanding what's wrong and where, for newbies. Well, not only for them... maybe a compiler switch --NOOB_ERR_MSGS could be very handy for some people :o)

Why can't a compiler give more accurate informations about errors? Shouldn't this save time, stress and money?

Another example: have you ever met the error line "Multiple definitions of..."?

For example, why can't a compiler start a negotiation "on the fly" like this:

ERROR: Multiple definitions of <variable|function|method> X.
X defined:
1) <here1> as variable
<line of code definition...>
2) <here2> as variable
<line of code definition...>
3) <here3> as function
<line of code definition...>
Choose which definition is the right one:

This is "interactive compiling", isn't it? Why not? Why the compiler can't simply ask us, in doubt, and on response modify sources accordingly on its own, in this case and in other similar? This would ease the programming effort a lot.

What are your opinions on this matter?
.

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