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-Thread: 103376,1b41412c7bc28c47 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!flpi089.ffdc.sbc.com!prodigy.net!flpi088.ffdc.sbc.com!prodigy.com!flpi107.ffdc.sbc.com!nlpi067.nbdc.sbc.com.POSTED!cfe18fef!not-for-mail From: Gary Scott Organization: Home User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Suffix _T for types found good References: <2e9ebb23-a68b-43cf-8871-febcb173f951@56g2000hsm.googlegroups.com> <4899d2af$0$19731$4d3efbfe@news.sover.net> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: <3lJqk.18731$mh5.15415@nlpi067.nbdc.sbc.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 68.94.37.188 X-Complaints-To: abuse@prodigy.net X-Trace: nlpi067.nbdc.sbc.com 1219191231 ST000 68.94.37.188 (Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:13:51 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:13:51 EDT X-UserInfo1: TSU[@IONRJVWSZXX]ZKZO\DBUSXB@DTMNHWB_EYLJZ]BGIELDVW[AKK[J\]^HVKHG^EWZHBLO^[\NH_AZFWGN^\DHNVMX_DHHX[FSQKBOTS@@BP^]C@RHS_AGDDC[AJM_T[GZNRNZAY]GNCPBDYKOLK^_CZFWPGHZIXW@C[AFKBBQS@E@DAZ]VDFUNTQQ]FN Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:13:50 -0500 Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:1660 Date: 2008-08-19T19:13:50-05:00 List-Id: Ray Blaak wrote: > Martin writes: > >>Ah, but "a" (or "an_") are 'indefinite articles' in English (which >>this is obviously trying to replicate), i.e. they don't specify any >>particular instance. A variable does specify a particulary instance, >>so using "a_"/"an_" for them is wrong. "better names" are what are >>always called for :-) >> >>The_Buffer : A_Buffer; > > > A type is not an indefinite instance either, or any instance at all. A type is > a contract specifying behaviour and storage. > > My suspicion is that this is motivated so that it reads better in English, > e.g. "the buffer is a buffer". > > Unfortunately, this is not the semantics of the programming language. The > semantics are: > > "The_Buffer" is now in scope, and its type is "Buffer". > > This is more succinctly expressed as: > > The_Buffer : Buffer > > As programmers we are quite used to understanding code. We are required to > keep things readable *and* accurate. > > >>I've used (and mandated) the "A_"/"An_" prefixes on a few projects and >>it does work quite well and read fine. > > > Well, there you go. Use it as you like if it works for you, but I can't stand > it. > It is very common to use naming conventions to lessen the ambituity, especially when it is likely to be interpreted by users of other programming languages. Ada isn't always as readable (conversational) as some other languages. -- Gary Scott mailto:garylscott@sbcglobal dot net Fortran Library: http://www.fortranlib.com Support the Original G95 Project: http://www.g95.org -OR- Support the GNU GFortran Project: http://gcc.gnu.org/fortran/index.html If you want to do the impossible, don't hire an expert because he knows it can't be done. -- Henry Ford