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: 103376,6327f05d4989a68d X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII X-Received: by 10.68.200.168 with SMTP id jt8mr1295084pbc.7.1356084820647; Fri, 21 Dec 2012 02:13:40 -0800 (PST) Path: s9ni56684pbb.0!nntp.google.com!news.glorb.com!us.feeder.erje.net!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!de-l.enfer-du-nord.net!feeder1.enfer-du-nord.net!feeder2.enfer-du-nord.net!usenet-fr.net!feeder1-2.proxad.net!proxad.net!feeder2-2.proxad.net!newsfeed.arcor.de!newsspool4.arcor-online.net!news.arcor.de.POSTED!not-for-mail Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 11:13:38 +0100 From: Georg Bauhaus User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.7; rv:17.0) Gecko/17.0 Thunderbird/17.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Press Release - Ada 2012 Language Standard Approved by ISO References: <7wrdmbre6jw9.qww9l0uzj6mg.dlg@40tude.net> <14oqoq06zhlu2.tcasif3hdyhw.dlg@40tude.net> In-Reply-To: <14oqoq06zhlu2.tcasif3hdyhw.dlg@40tude.net> Message-ID: <50d43653$0$6622$9b4e6d93@newsspool2.arcor-online.net> Organization: Arcor NNTP-Posting-Date: 21 Dec 2012 11:13:39 CET NNTP-Posting-Host: bfda08a5.newsspool2.arcor-online.net X-Trace: DXC=RlK:I7M?VKkUoRk[hk2WalA9EHlD;3Ycb4Fo<]lROoRa8kFjLh>_cHTX3jmcS<[g`^b9`o X-Complaints-To: usenet-abuse@arcor.de Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Date: 2012-12-21T11:13:39+01:00 List-Id: On 21.12.12 10:01, Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote: > What I see is a yet another way to pack implementations into > declarations as Georg promptly suggested, a slippery slope... Operational aspects of definitions, and assignments---similar to Adjust, Initialize, or Finalize---turn a static, flat plane of non-operational definitions into something that a programmer can work with, because it responds to his or her efforts at definitions. The programmer is important here, not necessarily the program, not yet. At a stage when programmers have no complete understanding of the program yet, as is usually the case outside theaters, what means of programming are better than nothing at all? So, constraints, Dynamic_Predictes, may have one or two other uses. The barium platino-cyanide paper on R�ntgen's workbench was just an aspect, at run-time. It was not deliberately a part of his programmed experiment. It turned into an important aspect though, because it made R�ntgen notice something, at run-time. "And what did you think?" "I did not think; I investigated. I assumed that the effect must have come from the tube, since its character indicated that it could come from nowhere else. I tested it. In a few minutes there was no doubt about it." R�ntgen had not even planned for paper laying there. Yet, had the black line across the paper not revealed an aspect, one for which he did not have proper abstractions, he would not have found X rays. It seems foolish to assume that, during program development, we just follow perfect notions of what we have to do. Two programmers sitting in the corner knowing everything about the program they intend to write---only in a pipe dream. Consequently, placing assumptions with definitions seems an honest thing to do. It does not kill other ways of expressing our knowledge. It does not require that we remove parts of a later program once they become unnecessary.