Re: output of enumeration types

["Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de>]

On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 09:49:41 +0200, Szymon Guz wrote:

> Dmitry A. Kazakov napisaďż˝(a):

>> On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 00:04:04 +0200, Staszek Goldstein wrote:
>> 
>>>I have got the following problem: having defined
>>>type roman_digit is ('I','V','X','L','C','D','M');
>>>type roman_number is array (positive range <>) of roman_digit;
>> 
>> But Roman number is not an array of letters. As others have pointed out 'I'
>> is not a digit. It can represent or not a decimal position depending on the
>> context. For example in 'XIII', the "digits" are 'X' and 'III'. Anyway it
>> should rather be:
>> 
>> type Roman_Number is range 1..3999;
> 
> Well, I can't see your point, why 1..3999 ?

Because Romans knew neither zero nor negative numbers and 3999 is the
maximal number that can be represented using I,V,X,L,C,D,M: 3999=MMMCMXCIX.
Honestly I don't know how they managed to build a great empire with that!
(:-))

[ http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de/ada/strings_edit.htm contains an
implementation of Roman numbers I/O. ]

-- 
Regards,
Dmitry A. Kazakov
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de