Re: File name conventions for Ada units

[mph@lion.inmos.co.uk (Mike Harrison)]

In article <1682@software.software.org> blakemore@software.org (Alex Blakemore) writes:
>...
>Even better, some systems (e.g. Rational) don't view source as files
>- you edit the actual library units.  This problem never arises. 
>

I first heard of this idea several years ago and have always wondered about 
a couple of points:

    - How do you get the validation suite into the program library, it IS a
      set of files (not library units).

    - How do you input programs containing errors detected by the structured
      editor; this may seem to be a silly point, but for educational purposes
      it may be desirable to expose students to (intended) programs with
      errors and they may be required for compiler testing (and there are
      many such in the validation suite).

I presume that such systems MUST be provided with a conventional file input
mechanism in addition to the structured editor, so the problem (cited above)
*does* arise (although it may not impact the user in quite the same way).


While I am on my 'hobby horse', I may as well say that I hate and detest
structured editors (for my own use) in that they force the user to adopt a
particular approach to ordering the input. I often find that I prefer to
input programs in an unstructured order (often arbitrarily copying 'chunks'
of code from other parts of the file or from other files).
I accept that structured editors may appeal to some (particularly to novices
or others unfamiliar with the the syntax of the language) but for the 
'professional program' I believe that they just get in the way!


Mike,



Michael P. Harrison - Software Group - Inmos Ltd. UK.
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