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From: mg@asp.camb.inmet.com (Mitch Gart)
Subject: Re: Does Ada have macros ?
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Date: Fri, 24 Mar 1995 12:25:48 GMT
Date: 1995-03-24T12:25:48+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

B Catlin (bcatlin@aol.com) wrote:
: I don't seem to remember Ada 83 having a macro capability, does Ada 95 ? 
: If not, why not ?

No macros, either in Ada 83 or Ada 95.  General text-substitution
macros like those in the C preprocessor are thought to be too 
unsafe.  For example, a macro can refer to a variable X and 
depending where the macro is expanded X may or may not be visible.
Ada programs are supposed to be readable and in many cases C
macros are one of the main culprits in producing unreadable C
programs.

In C macros can be used (and mis-used) in lots of ways but three legitimate
uses are for defining compile-time constants, types, and inline functions.
Ada has all three of these facilities.

	Mitch Gart