From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,TO_NO_BRKTS_FROM_MSSP autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,25aa3c7e1b59f7b5 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-01-04 08:05:54 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!64.245.249.51!sfo2-feed1.news.digex.net!intermedia!news-out.spamkiller.net!propagator-la!news-in-la.newsfeeds.com!news-in.superfeed.net!newsranger.com!www.newsranger.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada From: Ted Dennison References: <3C34BF2C.6030500@mail.com> <3C34D252.4070307@mail.com> Subject: Re: A case where Ada defaults to unsafe? Message-ID: <0pkZ7.3899$cD4.6730@www.newsranger.com> X-Abuse-Info: When contacting newsranger.com regarding abuse please X-Abuse-Info: forward the entire news article including headers or X-Abuse-Info: else we will not be able to process your request X-Complaints-To: abuse@newsranger.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2002 11:05:16 EST Organization: http://www.newsranger.com Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2002 16:05:16 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:18533 Date: 2002-01-04T16:05:16+00:00 List-Id: In article , Robert A Duff says... >If you're looking for cases where Ada makes the default less safe, I can >think of a few. Here's one: "X: T := ...;" is a variable, whereas >"X: constant T := ...;" is a constant. IMHO, it should be the other way >around ("X: var T := ...;" for a variable), since constants are safer >than variables. I think this is another example of the *real* design principle here, which is to make the more common and more general form take the least syntax, and use added syntax to specify a more constrained and/or less common form. If I try real hard I can come up with reasons why just about any design decision might have error-prone implications (particularly if I start with the postulate that everyone thinks like a C programmer). --- T.E.D. homepage - http://www.telepath.com/dennison/Ted/TED.html No trees were killed in the sending of this message. However a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.