Two questions

[Ding-yuan Sheu <dsheu@afit.af.mil>]

Hello All,
	I am converting a C++ application into Ada95 and ran into
two problems. If you know the answers, please let me know. I appreciate
your any help.

(1) Is there an easy way to achieve the same result of the C++ sprintf
function in Ada? I know this may be a FAQ. Your patience and kindness 
are appreciated.

I work on my project on SGI machines. SGI provides some C++ library 
binding for Ada programers. However, for the sprintf function, I think
the binding interface is unclear. So, I don't know how to use it. If you
happen to know how to use it. Please let me know.

(2) In a C++ function, prorammers can declare a static local variable
to preserve its value between function calls. Can I do that in Ada?
For example, in C++, I can write a function as  follows:
void strcount(char *str)
{
   static int total =0;
   int count = 0;

   while (*str++) count++;
   total = total + count;
}

Whenever strcount is called, the value of total will not be reinitialize
to 0. It will preserve the value after it was called last time.
I know I can use a package to wrap strcount and declare a private
variable in the package to achieve the same result. However, is this the
only solution? Can I simply declare a static variable in the Ada
subprogram 
to achieve the same result? 
Any comments are welcomed. Thanks in advance.
======================================================================
Ding-yuan Sheu (Steven) | Student of Air Force Institute Technology
(513)233-2022           | for Master Degree of Computer System
dsheu@afit.af.mil       | Software Engineering Sequence