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Date: | Wed, 25 Nov 1998 10:08:05 -0600 |
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Tucker Taft wrote:
> In general, I find the heavy use of pragmas unpleasant.
I agree with that as an aesthetic judgement.
However, part of the promise of the ASIS interface -- as I understand
it -- is that it will let us do more automated semantic analysis of
code. I see three general ways to indicate which semantic constraints
should be checked for a given chunk of code:
- mandate that it should always be true
- use a non-semantic marker, like a file extension, comment flag,
or type name postfix
- use a pragma to indicate that a given semantic constraint should
apply to a given chunk (package, subprogram, type, or whatever)
So I expect to see new pragmas that define various semantic
constraints, and ASIS tools that will check them, and that this
overall will move more error-detection and correction into
earlier phases of development.
I am assuming that an ASIS-compliant compiler will indicate
pragmas via the ASIS interface. I have not yet learned a lot about
ASIS. (Can someone recommend a good tutorial? If it isn't
handy, don't bother -- I'll track it down through adahome later.)
> Ada ... has more in common with Common Lisp Object System
> and Haskell, where there can be multiple "controlling" operands, and they are
> all "inside" the parentheses. This has a number of advantages.
I agree. I would consider the C++ style to be a less-powerful
subset of the Ada approach.
Some folks wants to use a subset of the base capability of the
language, like using "positive" instead of "integer."
I think it's great that they can do so, and have the flexibility to
step out of those limits when it makes sense.
I think it may help them to understand Ada's potential to see a
way to limit Ada usage down to their familiar idiom, and I think
it may be an epiphany for them to realize that it *would* require
limiting Ada to match C++.
Best,
Sam Mize
--
Samuel Mize -- [log in to unmask] (home email) -- Team Ada
Fight Spam: see http://www.cauce.org/ \\\ Smert Spamonam
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