Re: Discriminant as default initial value

[Scott Renfro <srenfro@sirinet.net>]

> Robert Dewar <dewar@MERV.CS.NYU.EDU> replied:
> 
> >No, it works fine in the windows version too. This was a very vague
> >report,
> >I paid little attention to it. If people think they have found a problem
> >in GNAT, it should be properly written up, formatted according to the
> >suggestions in gnatinfo.txt, and sent to report@gnat.com.

My newsfeed has not received Robert's message, so I do not know the
original context.  I am getting this from Kees de Lezenne Coulander's
reply.

The reason it is a very vague _report_ is that the original message was
_not_ a report.  It was a question by a new to Ada programmer trying to
learn the language, and clearly stated as such.

I did not believe at the time that I was suffering from a GNAT bug,
rather that I did not understand something about discriminants.  I did
not want to send a 'pilot error' question to gnat as a bug report.  I
had investigated the resources I have both online and in paper form and
could not find an answer, although Cohen's Ada as a Second Language pp.
381-382 came as close as I could find and seemed to indicate that it was
permissible.  Having exhausted my resources, I decided to ask the
knowledgeable people of c.l.a.

Unfortunately, everyone seems focused on GNAT bugs and not whether or
not the use of discriminants as default initial values is permissible
according to the RM.  This has lead me to conclude that it must be
permissible, or someone would have surely said something, so it must be
something worth reporting.  I will now reformat my question as a bug
report and send it to report@gnat.com.

I would have been happier, though, if someone had said yes what you are
trying to do is permissible, or no, that cannot be permissible according
to the RM or given another hint of a location in the RM to check.

Oh well, off to report@gnat.com I go.  

Scott