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From: "Jeffrey R. Carter" <spam.jrcarter.not@acm.nospam.org>
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Subject: Re: Separate Compilation in Programming Languages
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Date: 2008-02-22T22:16:48+00:00
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adaworks@sbcglobal.net wrote:
> 
> This morning, after an especially interesting argument about this feature and, 
> "Why would
> anyone want to do such a thing?" style questions, I decided to approach this 
> forum.  What
> is your view of Ada-style separate compilation when compared to that in other 
> languages?
> Do you find it useful in your own practice?   Do you still use the "is separate" 
> feature in
> a package body?    For my own programs, I find it helpful as a way to manage 
> dependencies
> when there are a lot of library units.   Also, UML does not support a capability 
> for modeling
> separate compilation, and that is a bit frustrating when trying to model a 
> fine-grained design.

I find the separation of spec and body very useful, especially for programming 
in groups by setting detailed design decisions in code-crete as pkg specs. I 
find many of the features of Ada packages useful in representing the 
implementation of a good design. I primarily use body stubs to reduce the size 
of large pkgs.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"
Monty Python & the Holy Grail
67