p(x: out File_Type)

[ok@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au (Richard A. O'Keefe)]

Does

	procedure P(...; X: out File_Type)

ever make sense, where File_Type is one of the standard file types
(from Sequential_IO, Direct_IO, or Text_IO)?

I can find no standard procedures with parameters like that in the
Ada 95 LRM.  I do not want to use them myself.  I don't _think_ they
make sense.

But writing
	procedure P(...; X: out File_Type)
when they mean
	procedure P(...; X: in out File_Type)
is a common mistake that our CS1 students make, and they compiler
they use quietly gulps it down with no indication that it is odd.

-- 
Govt saves money by cutting legal aid, guilty plea rates soar;
poverty is a crime!  (See also recent Sci.Am.)
Richard A. O'Keefe; http://www.cs.rmit.edu.au/%7Eok; RMIT Comp.Sci.