Re: some questions re. Ada/GNAT from a C++/GCC user

[bcf@ssd.ray.com (Felaco)]

Tucker Taft (stt@henning.camb.inmet.com) wrote:

: I find the easiest way to deal with extra, seemingly unnecessary,
: levels of constructs is to "half" indent.

[snip]

: Another alternative is to "merge" constructs, e.g.:

:     if A > 0 then declare
:         B : Integer := A;
:     begin
:         -- This is my normal indent of 4
:         A := B * A;
:     end; else
:         A := 2;
:     end if;

I prefer this approach, but tell that to Rational, whose Apex product 
insists on changing it on me...

Anyway, it would have been *nice* if we could dispense with the 'declare' 
and the 'end' when a new scope is introduced anyway, like in an if block 
or a loop.  I don't see how backwards compatibility with Ada83 would be 
compromised, or any other rules would have to change.

ie:

   if whatever then
       X : Integer;
       Y : Some_Task_Type;
     begin
       do_something;
   else
       loop
           Y : Boolean;
         begin
           do_something_else;
           exit when Y;
       end loop;
   end if;

I find the above just as human-readable, and still machine-readable.  The 
presence of the declaration signals that a new scope is introduced, the 
begin serves as a separator and the else serves as the end.  Why not?

: In any case, if our biggest problem with Ada 95 is that it requires 
: an explicit "declare" to introduce very local variables, I'm content...

I doubt it's the biggest problem with Ada 95, but it is one of the first 
things that narrow-minded people who resent being told to learn new 
languages pick up on and complain about.  Sometimes you need to make some 
concessions to these people whether you like it or not.

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Chris Felaco                               Phone: x4631 (Raynet 444, Local 842)
Raytheon Company                                         Email: bcf@ssd.ray.com
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