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: 103376,31c63f07e48d5471 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-02-21 09:41:35 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!peernews-us.colt.net!newsfeed.news2me.com!newsfeed2.easynews.com!newsfeed1.easynews.com!easynews.com!easynews!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3E5664C0.30905@acm.org> From: Jeffrey Carter User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.0.0) Gecko/20020530 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Ada to 'C' parameter passing problem References: <1ec946d1.0302191836.743eab91@posting.google.com> <3E55F70B.A254EAF@0.0> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 17:39:59 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.184.9.36 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net 1045849199 63.184.9.36 (Fri, 21 Feb 2003 09:39:59 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 09:39:59 PST Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:34353 Date: 2003-02-21T17:39:59+00:00 List-Id: Stuart Palin wrote: > Simon Wright wrote: > >>I recall Robert Dewar saying that he thought that restricting >>functions to "in" (or access) parameters was a Bad Idea -- Ada is a >>programming language, not a mathematical abstraction, and there is >>nothing in Ada to stop a function modifying global state. (Praise be, >>say I). But Robert got outvoted during the Ada 9X process. > > [RD does not usually make unconsidered statements, so I > would be interested in reading his line of arguments. Is it > available somewhere convenient?] I'm sure it is; have you tried a search on Google groups? I think I can restate RD's basic argument: Functions already allow side effects, just not explicit side effects on their parameters. Disallowing them is an unnecessary impediment to developers and makes interfacing to other languages more difficult than is necessary; allowing them would make some side effects more visible. -- Jeff Carter "If you don't get the President of the United States on that phone, ... you're going to have to answer to the Coca-Cola Company." Dr. Strangelove