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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham
	autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4
X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit
X-Google-Thread: 103376,b5ab7c96b188b59e
X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public
X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-01-13 14:28:40 PST
Path: 
 archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!sn-xit-02!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail
From: "Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: The "()" operator revisited.
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 16:27:36 -0600
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com
Message-ID: <1008s8nsn0u1ld6@corp.supernews.com>
References: <raBMb.9128$Qq.7455@nwrdny01.gnilink.net>
 <dmc700tmurmei4u19nof44803bv19f6d6o@4ax.com>
 <MfVMb.11867$Qq.262@nwrdny01.gnilink.net>
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4807.1700
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4910.0300
X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com
Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:4377
Date: 2004-01-13T16:27:36-06:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

"Frank J. Lhota" <NOSPAM.lhota.adarose@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:MfVMb.11867$Qq.262@nwrdny01.gnilink.net...
>...It would be nice if we could define "()" and "():=" for this hash
> table so that we could write something like this:
>
>     declare
>        Rec : Employee_Record_Hash_Table;
>     begin
>        ...
>        Rec( "Johnson" ) := This_Rec;
>        Display( The_Rec => Rec( "Smith" ) );
>        ...
>     end;

This seems like a lot of work to eliminate a few characters. I contend that
virtually all ADTs ought to be controlled (meaning that their tagged).
Presuming that, you can use prefix notation in Ada 200Y (see AI-252). Thus,
if you have:
    function Element (Container : in Map_Type; Index : in Index_Type) return
Element_Type;
    type Element_Handle is access all Element;
    function Set (Container : in Map_Type; Index : in Index_Type) return
Element_Handle;
your example would look like:
     declare
        Rec : Employee_Record_Hash_Table;
     begin
        ...
        Rec.Set( "Johnson" ).all := This_Rec;
        Display( The_Rec => Rec.Element( "Smith" ) );
        ...
     end;

Not perfect, but quite a bit closer than we can get in Ada 95. (Of course,
if you chose short enough names, you can cut the characters used a lot
more...)

               Randy.