Desktop PC BIOS code uses many '???' before the name of macro or symbol...why???

[cibala.tw]

Dear all,

Happy new year~~~
I am a fresh BIOS eng. and work on Taiwan's company.
When i study our bios code, there is one thing confuses me very much... :(
Please refer to below some examples, the BIOS code uses many "???" before the name of macro or symbol,

???MAKE_TASK MACRO tpoint:req, hook:req, task:req, taskFlag:req, \
or
IF ???testpoint GT 99
   PUBLIC @CatStr(<HFEAT_>, %???testpoint, <_UNREGISTER_>, ???hookroutine)
   @CatStr(<HFEAT_>, %???testpoint, <_UNREGISTER_>, ???hookroutine) EQU 0

I can't find any related defined instruction at "Microsoft MASM 6.1 Programmer's Guide".
Is there any one understand why the kernal code designer uses this format to define names?
thanks a lot. :boohoo:

[hutch--]

Hi cibala,

Welcome on board. I doubt there is any particular reason why the leading ??? are used except for the preference of the author. As long as the character is valid, it will work. It is probably a personal naming convention by the author.

[BogdanOntanu]

Or it could be some wrong text conversion to or from UNICODE/ASCII
from the code layout I suspect  that %??? is actually @@ the symbol for LOCAL Namespace / variables

[cibala.tw]

Dear all,

Thanks for your reply.
Anyway, i will ask the kernak code designer if possible, thanks~~~~~~~