From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,a3bf872bb81a1f2b X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-12-11 20:21:21 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!feed2.news.rcn.net!rcn!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newsmaster1.prod.itd.earthlink.net!newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3C16DB37.A0F02702@acm.org> From: Jeffrey Carter X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: ASCL a doomed idea? References: <7RQP7.4406$Yy.272014@rwcrnsc53> <9v0crv$bo2bi$2@ID-25716.news.dfncis.de> <3C13D980.748CCCDA@acm.org> <9v37s0$cdmva$3@ID-25716.news.dfncis.de> <3C153926.102B17B1@boeing.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 04:21:18 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.86.204.28 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net 1008130878 209.86.204.28 (Tue, 11 Dec 2001 20:21:18 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 20:21:18 PST Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net X-Received-Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 20:21:20 PST (newsmaster1.prod.itd.earthlink.net) Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:17811 Date: 2001-12-12T04:21:18+00:00 List-Id: Mark Lundquist wrote: > > I have a tool in my garden shed. It's basically a trencher, but with a > double head -- you reverse it and it's like a three-tined hoe. This tool is > called a "cultivator" -- that's what the hardware store calls it, anyway (I > used to call it a "hoedag", and still do, just to irritate my wife :-). So you have a combination trenching tool and hoe that someone misnamed a "cultivator". And your point is? > Alexader Stepanov came up with this idea for how to write a suite of > collection classes, where the collection operations were *not* primitives of > the collections. That way, the implementations of the collection operations > can be reused, i.e. shared across many collection types, instead of having > to be written custom-like for each one, and it allows the functionality of > the collection classes to be extended without the limitations of using > inheritance for the extension. The collections he calls "containers" and > the operations he calls "algorithms". The coupling mechanism between the > two is an abstraction he calls an "iterator". Now, this idea is embodied in > the Standard Template Library for a language called "C++", which many, many > programmers in this quadrant know (or at least are able to claim to know > enough to get hired). As a result, most sentient beings in the galaxy are > familiar with the concept of an "iterator" as the coupler between containers > and algorithms. Oh, I get it now. Since C++ got it wrong, Ada should get it wrong to be compatible with C++. An excellent idea. Along the same lines, I suggest removing type checking from Ada, and replacing "begin" and "end" with {}. We'd better introduce the reserved words "class" and "friend" while we're at it. > And I can't say much for your choice of name for the itera... I mean, the > uh... the dookus. "Position" is what you call it, right? "Position" is what it's usually called in the data structures literature in describing the abstraction called a list. -- Jeff Carter "My brain hurts!" Monty Python's Flying Circus