No multiple dispatch in Ada95?

[matomira@di.epfl.ch (Fernando Mato Mira)]

Hello,

  I checked the reference manual. There's no multiple dispatching
in Ada95?

  I see no reason why a left-to-right disambiguating rule was not good enough.
  You only add the extra dispatching complexity when the methods defined
require it. And it should be faster than simulating it by
a `double dispatch'. What's worse, time is already wasted checking
for a Constraint_Error.

  I have to leave CLOS for a year. I would have exchanged multiple
inheritance for multiple dispatch. Now it's not clear that the effort
or risk of choosing Ada95 instead of C++ (yuck!) is worth it.
  [Yes, I know C++ is risky _by design_]

  Really big goof, and it's a pity given that Ada got the `message send'
  syntax right..


PS: And why not reaping the benefits of both single inheritance
   and contract-based design by restricting inheritance to
   only one parent with structure plus an arbitrary number of abstract
   parents with null records?

-- 
F.D. Mato Mira           http://ligwww.epfl.ch/matomira.html                  
Computer Graphics Lab    matomira@epfl.ch 
EPFL                     FAX: +41 (21) 693-5328