Re: String_Access in unbounded string handling?

[Tucker Taft <tucker.taft@gmail.com>]

On Sunday, January 14, 2024 at 6:05:45 AM UTC-5, Blady wrote:
> Hello, 
> 
> String_Access is defined in A.4.5 Unbounded-Length String Handling: 
> 7 type String_Access is access all String; 
> 
> and note: 
> 75 The type String_Access provides a (nonprivate) access type for 
> explicit processing of unbounded-length strings. 
> 
> I wonder what String_Access is for and what could be "explicit processing"? 

The idea was to support the explicit use of new String'(...), X.all, and Unchecked_Deallocation rather than the implicit use of the heap inherent in Unbounded strings.  It was recognized that you need a single global access type to avoid having to do conversions all over the place.  This predated the availability of stand-alone objects of an anonymous access type (aka "SAOOAAATs" ;-), but those are not universally loved either.  It certainly cannot be removed now without potentially very painful disruption of existing users.  It could be moved to a different package without too much disruption, but I haven't seen any groundswell of interest in doing that either.
> 
> Thanks, Pascal.

Take care,
-Tuck