Re: Question for the folks who designed Ada95

[Robert Dewar <robert_dewar@my-dejanews.com>]

In article <7g4gjk$luq@drn.newsguy.com>,
  bill@nospam.com wrote:
> since we are making changes, can I have this change also:
> how about adding "()" to function and procedure calls,
> even though there are no parameters
> being passed?
>
> I find it more clear to see
>
> pkg.foo();
>
> instead of
>
> pkg.foo;
>
> where foo is a procedure or function that takes no args.
>
> becuase if I see () next to the name, I know the name is
> a function or
> procedure, instead of just a variable.
>
> please please, can we make this change in Ada 200X ?
>
> Bill.


No we can't!

This is something that people feel strongly about one way
or the other. It partly depends on your previous
experience, C programmers actually like the (), but
Algol tradition programmers find them ugly.

I personally think they are distracting and very annoying,
but my personal tastes are not important.

What *is* important is that this issue has been discussed
at length, in both 83 and 95, and every discussion made it
clear that the constituency that hates the null parens is
(a) in the clear majority and (b) feels strongly about it.

To suggest making such a change at this stage is out of
the question. It would be a horrendous incompatibility that
would annoy the majority of Ada users!

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