Re: Functions vs constants

[Adam Beneschan <adambeneschan@gmail.com>]

On Wednesday, July 23, 2014 6:21:34 AM UTC-7, Stephen Leake wrote:
> "Randy Brukardt" writes:
> 
> > One could even imagine a radical solution of having no constants at all, as 
> > parameterless expression functions would serve the purpose just as well. 
> > (Too radical, I think, as the syntax of an expression function would be too 
> > verbose for the use.)
> 
> What would happen if we changed the definition of a constant declaration
> to be syntax sugar for the equivalant parameterless expression function?

Constants behave like objects.  If you have a constant of a controlled type, it has to be Finalized like a variable object.  If you say "X : constant Access_To_Something := new Something'(blahblahblah)", then how would this work if it's syntactic sugar for a function--would it allocate a new Something every time it's accessed?  

                                -- Adam