Re: constraint error question for language lawyers

[jamesth@microsoft.UUCP (James THIELE)]

In article <9011091437.AA20896@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu> NCOHEN@IBM.COM ("Norman H. Cohen") writes:
| Alex Blakemore asks why, given the declarations
| 
|   type Short is range 0 .. 10;
|   type Data is array (Short range <>) of Character;
|   type Var_Text (Len : Short := 0) is
|     record
|       Text : Data (1 .. Len);
|     end record;
|   Dummy : Var_Text; -- unconstrained
| 
| the statements
| 
|   Dummy := (Len => 0, Text => "");
|   Dummy := (Len  => Dummy.Len + 1,
|             Text => Dummy.Text & 'a');
| 
| raise Constraint_Error in the second assignment.
| 
[62 lines of "legalese" deleted]

When I worked with Ada, it always seemed that the manual was like the
"Colossal Cave" -- you always had to go several places to get what you needed.

But my favorite comment always was:

	"Ada is PASCAL for lawyers."

James Thiele
microsoft!jamesth