At 09:58 AM 11/11/98 -0500, W. Wesley Groleau x4923 wrote:
>If your algorithm depends on a type or object having a certain range or
>size, you declare the type or object accordingly, and tell your suppliers
>you can only accept compilers and hardware that will accept your
>declarations.

   It is actually better, if you need a 32-bit Integer type, to declare:

subtype Integer32 is Integer range -2_147_483_648..2_147_483_647;
for Integer32'Size use 32;

   or some such.  The declaration will be rejected in Ada 95 if Integer does
not have the required range, this is a change from Ada 83.  (Of course, it is
possible that you will run into a compiler that supports 32-bit Integer
types, but where Integer is larger.  You can detect that--if it is
important--by adding:

X: Integer;
for X'Size use 32;

                                        Robert I. Eachus

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