Re: How difficult is ada to learn?

[Jeffrey Carter <spam@spam.com>]

Matthew Heaney wrote:
> 
> Of course, sets of this type have the same constraints as Pascal, 
> meaning that the element type must be discrete and constrained, e.g. 
> subtypes of Character or Integer, etc.

They don't have to be subtypes. In Pascal, there were often limits on 
the range of the universe, and the compiler would reject sets over too 
large a universe, but there's nothing in Ada to stop you from writing:

type Character_Set is array (Character) of Boolean;
pragma Pack (Character_Set);

type Integer_Set is array (Integer) of Boolean;
pragma Pack (Integer_Set);

C : Character_Set;
I : Integer_Set;

and the worst the compiler can do is issue a warning that the 
declaration will raise Storage_Error.

Actually, with a 32-bit Integer, Integer_Set will occupy 512 MB. That's 
less than the physical memory on many modern PCs, so you might not even 
get a warning.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"We call your door-opening request a silly thing."
Monty Python & the Holy Grail
17