From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,TO_NO_BRKTS_FROM_MSSP autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,45b47ecb995e7a3 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-08-08 08:14:09 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!feed.textport.net!newsranger.com!www.newsranger.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada From: Ted Dennison References: <3B6F1B2F.4FC3C833@gsde.hou.us.ray.com> <5ee5b646.0108071819.6e84e33d@posting.google.com> Subject: Re: Ada Idioms Progress Preview Message-ID: X-Abuse-Info: When contacting newsranger.com regarding abuse please X-Abuse-Info: forward the entire news article including headers or X-Abuse-Info: else we will not be able to process your request X-Complaints-To: abuse@newsranger.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2001 11:13:56 EDT Organization: http://www.newsranger.com Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2001 15:13:56 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:11619 Date: 2001-08-08T15:13:56+00:00 List-Id: In article <5ee5b646.0108071819.6e84e33d@posting.google.com>, Robert Dewar says... > >I understand Tom's point here, and I would rephrase it as a requirement >that Ada idiom's be obvious once seen to someone who knows Ada. That's >true for example of Stanley's Boolean'Pos idiom (which is indeed a >useful one to know). .. >It should not be: > >c) Gadzooks! What on earth does that mean, let me reach for the LRM. >Ah, yes, finally figured it out -- to clever for me! Out of curiosity, which category would you place the "Rosen Trick" in? I'd think the latter. It might be farily clear to an Ada expert what the code does, but without extensive commenting (or knowledge of the trick) it would be rather tough to figure out why someone would go through all that trouble. For those who don't know: The Rosen Trick, if I remember correctly, involves using self-referencing access fields in a record structure to allow modifiction of an "in" parameter. By convention, it should only be considered when the client's view of the parameter won't change, but some internal bookeeping needs to be done. Do a groups.google search for more info. --- T.E.D. homepage - http://www.telepath.com/dennison/Ted/TED.html home email - mailto:dennison@telepath.com