Re: Help: redefining equality

[johnherro@aol.com (John Herro)]

Paul Cohen <paul.cohen@lmco.com> writes:
> What was the "standard trick" in Ada83
> for being able to redefine equality for
> non-private types (even though the language
> seemingly does not allow it)?

I don't know if this is a "standard trick," but the way I've always
done it in Ada 83 is to write, for example,

if Equal(X1, X2) then ...

and write my own function Equal.  The problem is that if X1 and
X2 belong to a non-private type, the language doesn't prevent
you from forgetting to call your own function and accidentally
writing

if X1 = X2 then ...

instead.

- John Herro
Software Innovations Technology
http://members.aol.com/AdaTutor
ftp://members.aol.com/AdaTutor