Re: non-consecutive ranges

[Tucker Taft <stt@averstar.com>]

vlight@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> 
> is there a way to define a variable to have a non-consecutive range?  for
> instance, let's say i wanted to define variable X with a range from 2 to 1024
> and 4096 to 8192.
> 
>   X : Integer range (1 .. 1024) and (4096 .. 8192);
> 
> or something similar to this declaration.  in addition to define
> non-consecutive ranges, could i define a range of odd numbers? even numbers?
> 
> how would i go about declaring this?

There is nothing like this built into the language.
However, you could define a private type and a "convert_from_int"
function which did an arbitrarily complicated test before
agreeing to convert the integer to a value of the private type.
You could "inline" this function to get roughly the same
performance as if the capability were supported directly
through some special syntax.

If you had a general requirement for types like this, you
could go so far as to write a generic package to be used
for defining such "holey" types, with generic formal parameters
indicating the gap(s) in the range.  E.g.:

generic
    type Underlying_Type is (<>);
    First, Gap_First, Gap_Last, Last : Underlying_Type;
package Holey_Types is
    type Holey is private;
    function Make_Holey(Val : Underlying_Type) return Holey;
    function Val(H : Holey) return Underlying_Type;
private
    pragma Inline(Make_Holey, Val);
    type Holey is new Underlying_Type range First .. Last;
end Holey_Types;

package body Holey_Types is
    function Make_Holey(Val : Underlying_Type) return Holey is
    begin
        if Val in Gap_First .. Gap_Last then
            raise Constraint_Error;
        end if;
        return Holey(Val);  -- Constraint_Error if not in First .. Last
    end Make_Holey;
    function Val(H : Holey) return Underlying_Type is
    begin
        return Underlying_Type(H);
    end Val;
end Holey_Types;

> joe

-- 
-Tucker Taft   stt@averstar.com   http://www.averstar.com/~stt/
Technical Director, Distributed IT Solutions  (www.averstar.com/tools)
AverStar (formerly Intermetrics, Inc.)   Burlington, MA  USA