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: 103376,38159b1b5557a2e7 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-01-23 04:38:20 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net.POSTED!d9c68f36!not-for-mail Message-ID: <401115B7.5020205@noplace.com> From: Marin David Condic User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (OEM-HPQ-PRS1C03) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Standard Ada Preprocessor (Was: why ada is so unpopular ?) References: <49cbf610.0401170627.79c3dfe5@posting.google.com> <400A9B48.3060100@noplace.com> <400BD4B5.6000307@noplace.com> <400BDB7C.40100@noplace.com> <400D2150.6000705@noplace.com> <400E72F9.8060501@noplace.com> <100upo7ln5e3k59@corp.supernews.com> <400FC8E8.2040100@noplace.com> <_JSdna166JuxFo3dRVn-hg@comcast.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 12:38:19 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.165.26.148 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net 1074861499 209.165.26.148 (Fri, 23 Jan 2004 04:38:19 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 04:38:19 PST Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:4700 Date: 2004-01-23T12:38:19+00:00 List-Id: The more I think about it the more I want there to be a conditional compilation capability that would allow some unlimited set of logical names to be associated with strings at compile time. What you propose would be helpful but A) still only helps where you can put an "if" statement and is useless around declarations and b) doesn't account for all the possible variants that may impact a program at compile time or run time. "Operating_System", for example, is insufficient to tell you if you have certain libraries available to you or not. Unless you force some structure on the string that allows it to be parsed to provide more detailed information. I think we either need a single logical compile-time variable with a structured string that can be parsed (some format like "Attrribute => Value, ....") or you need an arbitrary set of compile time variables that the developer can establish and document as required settings for conditional compilation. Most of what's in System seems to be useful only at run time. By then, I could have easily solved the problem for myself by having some kind of app-defined configuration file or similar thing I read in and use to determine which calls to make. So any solution has to happen at compile time or it really doesn't do any good. MDC Robert I. Eachus wrote: > > In Ada 83 that wouldn't have worked. But I think it would be wonderful > to get rid of the type Name in system and add three string constants: > > Operating_System: constant String := implementation_dependent; > Hardware_Architecture: constant String := implementation_dependent; > Compiler: constant String := implementation_dependent; > Version: constant String := implementation_dependent; > -- ====================================================================== Marin David Condic I work for: http://www.belcan.com/ My project is: http://www.jsf.mil/NSFrames.htm Send Replies To: m o d c @ a m o g c n i c . r "Face it ladies, its not the dress that makes you look fat. Its the FAT that makes you look fat." -- Al Bundy ======================================================================