Re: Required Metrics

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

In article <wccbt23uaut.fsf@world.std.com>,
  Robert A Duff <bobduff@world.std.com> wrote:
> "Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@earthlink.net> writes:
>
> >...And the blasted ACVC tests checked that the compiler DID
NOT
> > accept longer lines, whle requiring that you accept an
identifier that
> > was the same length as a line.
>
> That test is clearly wrong.  I'm surprised nobody has
challenged it.
> There is no requirement that a compiler impose a maximum
line-length
> limit, and there never has been.
>
> I guess it's easier to make your compiler pass a test than it
is to go
> through the challenge process.  Sigh.

You missed the point. There was a requirement that if you
support lines of length N, you must also support identifiers
of length N, including externally visible names of length N.
It is impractical in most environments to allow arbitrary
length for identifier names.

A compiler that limited names to 256 characters, but had no
limit on line length would NOT have been valid in Ada 83 (I
think we fixed this in Ada 95? but on the other hand we
recommend a line limit of 250 in Ada 95!)


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