Re: STL, Ada, C++ (Was Re: The Next Microsoft?)

[Brian Rogoff <bpr@shell5.ba.best.com>]

On Tue, 9 May 2000, Brian Rogoff wrote:
> On Tue, 9 May 2000, Richard D Riehle wrote:
> > For example, the model for generic formal package parameters in Ada
> > forces the designer to create a generic signature package corresponding to
> > the parameter.  This makes automatic instantiation quite difficult to
> > achieve, but has the benefit of pretty thorough compile-time evaluation
> > of all the elements of the signature.  
> 
> Here are the rules for automatic instantiation proposed by Shen and
> Cormack:
... snip... 
> Packages in package parameters would not be inferred. 

Which is clearly unacceptable today, for reasons of consistency and
upward compatibilty,  Ada generic signature packages should be inferrable
too. I suspect that in a system with optional automatic instantiation
those would mostly still be explicitly instantiated, since they provide
important information to the reader, and would be particularly prone to
ambiguity. 

Sorry for writing that mistaken sentence.

-- Brian