g++ (and I assume other compilers) may diagnose it as missing either a comma (because of the comma operator) or a missing semicolon (can't find the end of stat

g++ (and I assume other compilers) may diagnose it as missing either a comma (because of the comma operator) or a missing semicolon (can't find the end of statement) - silently providing one or the other would not be a good idea. Actually, I remember Jerry Pournelle asking exactly the same question about Pascal in Byte magazine in the 1980s.