Re: Ada generics

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

On Thu, 28 Dec 2006 18:35:06 +0100, Georg Bauhaus wrote:

> GNAT already supports the detection of identifiers that were 
> spelled similarly. In case of errors, it lists their "relatives".
> Surely a helpful feature, and a proof that practical handling of
> natural language identifiers is possible.
> As an example, as you have been referring to German, consider that
> sharp s, '�', is usually written "SS" when capitalized.
> So "Stra�e" tends to become "STRASSE". Now if you have a composite
> word that has
> - a '�', and
> - an 's' right after it,
> such as "Ma�stab" (= scale, rule, yardstick), then from a simple
> minded formalist's perspective I could argue:
> 
>   "Using Unicode is nonsense because there is no 1:1 mapping for the
>   German word 'Ma�stab' which will become 'MASSSTAB'. "SSS" is
>   ambiguous, it could be "s�" or it could be "�s". That's too big
>   a challenge for a compiler write. So leave me alone with your
>   Unicode and case insensitivity."
> 
> Is that what computer science has to answer when asked about
> characters handling?

No. CS is all about introducing formal languages in place of natural ones,
for obvious reasons.

Corollary: never ever make a formal language (Ada) dependent on a natural
one (German). That would make the former natural.

That's the answer of CS, IMO.

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