Non-printable (0xFF) byte in C++ source file
c++, editor
Solution
That could be Form Feed (ASCII 12) (on wiki-pedia), in other words a whitespace character.
The form feed character is sometimes used in plain text files of source code as a delimiter for a page break, or as marker for sections of code. Some editors, in particular emacs, have built-in commands to page up/down on the form feed character. This convention is predominantly used in Lisp code, and is also seen in Python source code.
It used to be common in sources back when source code was commonly printed on paper for review/archival.
Prints will interpret `FF` in plain text documents as a 'page break'
Semi-relevant: https://twitter.com/sehetw/status/297904888321544192
Problem
This particular C++ code project has 0xFF byte markers that prefix function definitions. What is the purpose of this? Is it to aid some simple source file parser? Apparently the compiler ignores these markers.