Assertions in Ada

[adaworks@netcom.com (AdaWorks)]

Subject: Assertions in Ada
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Organization: Netcom On-Line Services
Summary: 
Keywords: 

Subject: Assertions in Ada
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Organization: Netcom On-Line Services
Summary: 
Keywords: 

I have found the thread on Eiffel versus Ada quite interesting. For a
long time I have believed that Ada should include some form of assertion
mechanism.  I favor the Eiffel words: require, ensure, and invariant.

These could be pragmas in the general form,

    pragma Require(Entity, Data-type, Boolean-Expression)

which would add no new syntax to the language.  Or they could be in
the form of a child package to Ada.Exceptions, also adding no new
syntax to the language.  

In other words, Ada may not need to be redesigned to introduce assertions.
Existing language features might work just fine.  Much of the argument
in favor of Eiffel would simply vanish with the addition of a reliable
assertion mechanism in Ada.

Richard Riehle

-- 

richard@adaworks.com
AdaWorks Software Engineering
Suite 30
2555 Park Boulevard
Palo Alto, CA 94306
(415) 328-1815
FAX  328-1112