Re: Specialization

[Jim Rogers <jimmaureenrogers@worldnet.att.net>]

Baugereau wrote:

> 
> Ok so this is the difference of philosophy with STL's vector, which is plain
> value-oriented.
> What I dislike here is the lack of locality of the elements, and the need to
> "new" every time I add an element...
> Any comment?


The difference is that in C++ you "new" the element before you add
it to the vector (in the constructor). You then pass a reference
(or pointer) to the vector. The C++ vector does not require heavy
weight copy semantics for add an element because it only really adds
a reference. The same is being done in Ada. The difference is that 
objects in C++ are so commonly passed by reference that you forget
what is going on. Ada is simply making the situation clear by requiring
you to dynamically allocate a copy of the object.

If you were to dynamically allocate all your objects in Ada, just as
you do in C++, then the container would not need to perform any of the
dynamic allocation. You could simply add references to the objects
just like you do in C++.

You will also find that Ada scoping rules are much more strict than C++
scoping rules. This can influence the way you design your container
package.

Jim Rogers