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From: John McCabe <john@nospam.assen.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Enumeration literal visibility and use type
Date: 1998/05/27
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Date: 1998-05-27T00:00:00+00:00
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Peter Amey <pna@praxis-cs.co.uk> wrote:

>Not if suitable names are chosen.  Most of the difficulties with Ada 
>prefixes and dotted names seem to arise because people fight the 
>language rather than taking advantage of it.  Names should be chosen for 
>their readability in context.  I much prefer:
>
>package Valve is
>  type T is (Open, Shut);
>end Valve;
>
>allowing:   DrainValve : Valve.T := Valve.Shut;
>

That's not a bad point, but if I say:

   ValveState : Valve.T := Valve.Shut;

then do some processing then I want to check the state of the valve I 
have to do:

   if (ValveState = Valve.Shut) then ...

when I would rather just say:

   if (ValveState = Shut) then ...

I see the second one as being clearer.

Since "Valve" is alonger word than "Shut" and is the first to be read, 
there is a risk of it reducing the "obviousness" of what is intended, and 
reducing readability of the code.

-- 
Best Regards
John McCabe

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