From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
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From: fraser@synopsys.throw.this.bit.away.com
Subject: Re: Can't export object of private type
Date: 1999/02/26
Message-ID: <7b6nqe$75m$1@remarQ.com>#1/1
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References: <7b47m3$l2l$1@remarQ.com> <F7r1sq.1nu@syd.csa.com.au>
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Organization: Vegetarian Ada Programmers
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Originator: fraser@titanic
Date: 1999-02-26T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

I nearly cried when nospam@thanks.com.au said:


>:I just love the way Ada compilers fill in .all for me.  

>Can you give an example?

Sure.  This is an idiom I use all the time (well, until I wrote a generic dynamic
array package, but that's another story):

   type Array_Type is array (Positive range <>) of Integer;
   type Array_Access is access Array_Type;

   X : Array_Access;
   Y : Integer;
   Z : Array_Type (1 .. Size);
begin

   X := new Array_Type'(1 .. Size);

   Y := X (3);     --  same as X.all (3)

   Z := X.all;     --  .all required here
end;

Subprogram access types are similar.  Bertrand Meyer goes into this sort of thing
in his Eiffel book, but I can't remember the term he used.  You know, the bit
about everything being accessed the same way, regardless of the underlying type.
I think Eiffel (at least in its first incarnation, I haven't checked the language's
revision history) goes a little overboard in its race for purity (but that's another
article).  Not having to worry about whether something's an array or an array access
when you index it is a small plus, but it's representative of a wider philosopher.

Fraser.