Re: limited/non-limited in Ada95

[fjh@mundook.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Fergus Henderson)]

Jon S Anthony <jsa@synquiry.com> writes:

>bobduff@world.std.com (Robert A Duff) writes:
>
>> What's wrong with having:
>> 
>>     type T is limited private;
>> 
>> then:
>> 
>>     type T_Contents is ...; -- not limited!
>>     type T is
>>         limited record -- to keep Henry from stealing bank accounts ;-)
>>             Contents: T_Contents;
>>         end record;
>
>Yes, of course, I tried this route.  It makes a mess of things.  To
>understand why it makes a mess of things, yes, you'd have to see all
>the details, but that's not going to happen under the current
>circumstances here...

Look, Bob Duff has provided constructive proof that what you want can be done
in Ada 95, and apart from the lines quoted above, the only difference to
your source code will be a few occurrences of ".Contents".  It is clear
that that is not going to "make a mess of things".

So, do you expect us to just take your word for it?
Do you really expect us to believe your word, without a scrap of evidence,
against Robert Dewar's word, and against Bob Duff's word, and more to the
point against Bob Duff's constructive proof?

I for one don't believe you.

--
Fergus Henderson <fjh@cs.mu.oz.au>   |  "I have always known that the pursuit
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>   |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
PGP: finger fjh@128.250.37.3         |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.