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From: Wes Groleau <wesgroleau@despammed.com>
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Subject: Re: Anybody in US using ADA ? One silly idea..
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>  > But I wish I could
>> define things like 'First and 'Last when I create a
>> private type for which they are meaningful.
> 
> In C++, you can set up arbitrary "attributes" of this
> sort by using a technique called traits. You define a

I'm not interested in "arbitrary" attributes.
I'm interesting in creating an abstraction that
has the attributes of being some kind of "number"
but is still user-defined.  In Ada and C++, we
can overload operators so that the abstraction
is supported.  But if we have a legitimate reason
to "hide" the implementation with "private" we
give up the ability to query the attributes.