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From: JMUNGLE@USC-ISIF.ARPA (Jerry Mungle)
Newsgroups: net.lang.ada
Subject: More fun with public domain Ada
Message-ID: <8601210108.AA00678@ucbvax.berkeley.edu>
Date: Mon, 20-Jan-86 19:26:00 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8601210108.AA00678
Posted: Mon Jan 20 19:26:00 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 22-Jan-86 00:25:28 EST
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Organization: The ARPA Internet
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


  I've been trying to learn some Ada, and pick up a few tools, by examining
and compiling various tools in the SIMTEKL20 public domain library.  Along the
way, I've found out some interesting things about the DEC Ada compiler.

  One program had the following statement (without the comment!)

    LNTH : NATURAL range 1..8 := 0;  --whoops, can't count

  I worry when I see things such as that, but the winteresting part came
after I had compiled the program containing that declaration (I didn't pick
up on it during a cursory scan of the source).  It compiled FINE, and it wasn't
till I began to execute the program that I recieved a CONSTRAINT_ERROR (very
helpful message, but standard) and a stack dump.  Chee, and I had even turned on
the debugger... anyway, the stack dump pointed me to the statement after the
offending line, and I could take it from there.

  Why can't the compiler catch such problems during compile time??  I thought
an Ada compiler should have caught such things.  Interestingly enough, there
are multiple examples of a string initializer being one character too long
in thsi same program, and the results are similar.  No compile problem, but
a CONSTRAIBNNT_ERROR and stack dump during elaboration.

  A second question -- has anyone else run through the SIMTEL20 tools, and 
do you have any ranking of the various tools?  I would like to skip the
problem-plagued programs.  If you do , you can send to me a letter with the
ramnkings and comments (jmungle 'll summarize (and add my own experience) to the net.

		...best   

  (ahhh, that last line should be 'jmungle @ ucb-isif) adnd i'll...)
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