Re: status of Ada STL?

["Marin David Condic" <dont.bother.mcondic.auntie.spam@[acm.org>]

O.K. that's probably more accurate. My point was that the whole "vision" of
the "=" operator is different from what Ada does. In C and C++ you can write
an expression like: "X = Y = Z = 0 ;" because the "=" is viewed as a kind of
binary function with side effects. (First you call "Z = 0" which has side
effects on Z, then "Y = Z" which has side effects on Y, etc...) Whereas in
Ada, the whole concept of an expression such as "X := Y := Z := 0;" would be
foreign and incomprehensible, because it isn't viewed as a function with
side effects, but as a fundamental statement of the language - "object gets
the value of an expression".

So what falls to the right of ":=" has to be an "expression" and the only
way for that to be an expression is for ":=" to be a binary function which
starts redefining what it means to be a function because of side effects and
then of course you've got the leftmost ":=" which can't any longer be
"object gets expression" because now ":=" is a function and that means you
need to allow function calls where the return value is discarded and.....
(deep breath) Pretty soon, you're thoroughly hosed - and for what? So that
some ex C/C++ programmers don't have to go through the change of life
necessary to get comfortable with "X := X + 1;"? (Suggestion: Get Over It!
:-)

I'd think that tinkering with something this fundamental in the language to
change it into a function with side effects would have such profound
implications, that it would either "break" Ada or Ada would start to take on
the characteristics of "organically grown"* (rather than "designed") that I
consider to be the style of C/C++. It would be A Bad Thing.

*(IMHO, C++ shows all the signs of following the Harley Davidson Design
Methodology - "If it breaks, make it bigger. If it sticks out, chrome it."
:-)

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com


"David Thompson" <david.thompson1@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:_cvS8.63267$UT.4317265@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>
> Um, in C = assignment is the builtin operator, as is == equality.
> Presumably you mean C++ where they can be user-defined
> (overloaded) but only where at least one operand is of user-defined
> i.e. class (including struct and union) or enum type.
>