Re: is Ada dying?

[Hyman Rosen <hyrosen@mail.com>]

James Rogers wrote:

> Yes. Let's all use a language with common constructs like the
> following:
> 
> float (*(*f)())();
> 
> This is "simple" C syntax for a pointer to a function returning a
> pointer to a function returning a float.


I could go "nyah nyah" and point out that until Ada 95 came along,
Ada didn't have pointers to functions. And functions returning
pointers to functions aren't all that common, so you don't see too
many declarations like that in typical C or C++ code.

That being said, I must agree that the declaration syntax of C (and
therefore of C++) is a disasterous mistake, stemming from a misguided
design goal. The point of C's declaration syntax is to make the
declaration of a name mirror its use. That is, to actually retrieve
the ultimate float from f, you can write

	float an_f = (*(*f)())();

See? It's an idea, just not a good one.