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From: "Matthew Heaney" <mheaney@on2.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Teaching new tricks to an old dog (C++ -->Ada)
Date: 23 Mar 2005 13:41:08 -0800
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Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:9840 comp.lang.c++:46919
Date: 2005-03-23T13:41:08-08:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


Jerry Coffin wrote:
>
> char[] and wchar_t[] are arrays, not strings.

Well, that's true of Ada's String and Wide_String.


> C++ really only has one
> string type: std::basic_string. std::string and std::wstring are not
> types of their own at all, but simply typedefs as:
>
> typedef std::basic_string<char> string;
> typedef std::basic_string<wchar_t> wstring;

That's more or less what type Unbounded_String is, too.

There appears to be a difference in terminology.  I and every other
developer I know refers to type const char* as a string.  (For example,
H&S Ch. 13 is titled "String Processing.")

In any event, that's probably how the OP was using the term when he
said "Ada has 5 string types."  If you don't regard arrays as members
of the class of string types, then you can reduce Ada's count
accordingly.


> In addition, one of the major arguments the Ada fans have used here
is
> that Ada's strings are built-in, NOT added as a class like in C++. If
> C++ had been designed from the beginning with a string class, the
> array-based "stuff" probably wouldn't exist at all.

I don't see what difference it makes whether the type is built-in or
not.  What's wrong with an added class?  Perhaps they were refering to
the fact that you can declare array objects (strings) with non-static
bounds on the stack (since clearly Unbounded_String is not a built-in
type).


> BTW, in case anybody really cares, yes I apply the same standard to
> C++: while its string handling facilities are fewer and IMO better
than
> Ada's, they're still far short of perfect.

I prefer string handling in C++ too, but not being able to declare an
array (on the stack) with non-static bounds is a real pain sometimes
(although std::string mostly compensates for this).  I agree that Ada's
string handling facilities aren't as nice, but they do get the job
done.