incoonsistent need of backslash in octave-3.0.5

[Sergei Steshenko]

Hello, (I know octave-3.0.5 is outdated)

when I run the following piece of code:

[ \
measured_burst_delay_in_samples, \
max_cross_correlation
] = \
measure_burst_delay_through_correlation\
  (\
  burst_period,
  burst,
  analysis_step_in_samples,
  input_data,
  burst_window_begin_sample_number,
  burst_window_end_sample_number
  );

, everything works as expected.

If I remove backslash after "measured_burst_delay_in_samples,", I'm getting the 
following error message:

"
parse error near line 74 of file 
/home/sergei/GenericBinauralFFTW/octave/explore_sync_burst.m

  syntax error

>>> ] = \
     ^

parse error near line 74 of file 
/home/sergei/GenericBinauralFFTW/octave/explore_sync_burst.m

  syntax error

>>> ] = \
       ^

error: near line 83 of file 
`/home/sergei/GenericBinauralFFTW/octave/explore_sync_burst.m'
error: source: error sourcing file 
`/home/sergei/GenericBinauralFFTW/octave/explore_sync_burst.m'
".

My point also is that function arguments are on separate lines and this
works just fine without any backslash (as well as with backslashes).

So, why do I need backslash where in practice in the above example I need
it ?

Do newer versions of 'octave' have the same requirement WRT backslash ?

If yes, are there clearly defined rules explaining when backslash is
really needed ?

Thanks,
  Sergei.