Ada & preprocessing - looking for reference

Ada & preprocessing - looking for reference

[Dirk Craeynest]

We are looking for a reference to a published text that contains more
background information on the issue of preprocessing and Ada.

Preprocessing was excluded from Ada from the start, and we seem to
remember having read about the background for that choice in the 83
Rationale.  However, we were unable to find this in an online version
of the rationale.

A general web-search found only one relevant result: an item from the
(old) comp.lang.ada FAQ, then maintained by Magnus Kempe (Q. 8.7: Does
Ada have macros?).  However, we prefer not to refer to this no longer
maintained site, in order not to fuel the "Ada is dead" hoax.

The text in the old CLA FAQ mentions the Steelman requirement that the
language should not have macros.  Strangely enough, looking through the
online Steelman document at
  http://www.adaic.com/docs/reports/steelman/intro.htm
we couldn't find any of the words "macro", "pre-process" or "preprocess"
in the document.

Could any of you help by pointing us into the right direction?

Thanks in advance.

Dirk

-- 
Dirk Craeynest (OFFIS - Aubay) | Email Dirk.Craeynest@ | Ada-Belgium
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