Why in interpreted languages the # usually introduces a comment?

Question

Why in interpreted languages the # normally introduces a comment? This question was asked in an exam on Shell Programming but I don't find any hint on why it's the #.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

make uses the #-comment construct; and sh, one the first shells, uses the same #-comment. The writers of later shells -- csh, ksh, bash, jsh, and more -- understood that it would be a burden on users if each were to have its own comment convention, particularly since all of these shell scripts can sort-of run under any shell.

To invent yet another comment convention would be to ensure that no one would use any newly-introduced shell.

The #-comment became a de facto standard very early in Unix history.

That's my take, anyway.

-- pete