Re: Subprogram Renaming

[bobduff@world.std.com (Robert A Duff)]

In article <316951C3.CE4@csehp3.mdc.com>,
James A. Squire <m193884@CSEHP3.MDC.COM> wrote:
>> package q is
>>   procedure j;
>> end q;
>>
>> package body q is
>>    ...
>>    procedure j renames k;
>
>which looks like a rename of a spec to me.  I can do this in Ada83.

No, the above is illegal in Ada 83.  In Ada 83, you have two
declarations of J, which are homographs, and therefore illegal.  And you
have a missing body for the first J, which is also illegal.  The new
thing in Ada 95 is that the renaming can act as the body of the first J.
This is no big deal -- the renaming is just a short-hand notation for
"procedure j is begin k; end;".  But it was illegal in Ada 83.

As Robert Dewar said, this has nothing to do with syntax rules -- the
syntax for renamings is the same.  The difference is where they're
allowed, and what they mean.  To find the rules, you have to look at the
text under subprogram renamings (as opposed to just looking at the BNF
syntax rules).

- Bob