Re: access-to-constant dispatching params

[Tucker Taft <stt@averstar.com>]

don_harrison@my-deja.com wrote:
> 
>   Tucker Taft <stt@averstar.com> wrote:
> > m_cubed@my-deja.com wrote:
> > >
> > > Ada provides access-to-variable dispatching
> > > parameters.
> 
> [..]
> 
> > > What it doesn't seem to provide is
> > > access-to-constant dispatching parameters.
> >
> > This is one thing being considered for Ada 0X.
> >
> > However, as someone else suggested, plain old "IN" parameters
> > pretty much do the job and are preferable in certain ways.
> 
> In what ways do you consider in-parameters preferable?

IN parameters would be preferable to access-to-constant for most
non-dispatching cases, because they are more flexible, allowing
passing of non-aliased objects, the result of calling a function,
an aggregate or a literal, etc.  For dispatching cases, the two
are quite similar, and choosing between them depends on whether
most callers are dealing with access values or objects.
> 
> Don Harrison

-- 
-Tucker Taft   stt@averstar.com   http://www.averstar.com/~stt/
Technical Director, Commercial Division, AverStar (formerly Intermetrics)
(http://www.averstar.com/services/IT_consulting.html)  Burlington, MA  USA