Re: Reference vs. copy semantics in passing parameters

[madmats@elcgl.epfl.ch]

In article <2742@sparko.gwu.edu>, mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman) writes:
> 
> PS: It seems to me that Ada9x could clarify the issue by simply requiring
> that structured parameters be passed by reference (instead of the Ada83
> rule that it's implementation-dependent). Since a program whose behavior
> depends upon the method of passing is - by definition of the LRM -
> erroneous, the only programs that would break would be erroneous ones,
> which Ada9x says it doesn't care about. So the clarification would be
> upward compatible. Ada9x-ers: what would be the objections?

I think the objections would be that there should be nothing in Ada that
prevents its implementation on a distributed system (without shared
memory). Remote procedure calls and entries cannot reasonably be done
if the reference mechanism is used for parameter passing, even for large
structures.

Mats