New Software Forum

New Software Forum

[Jim Rogers]

Yesterday I became aware of a new software forum starting up at
http://www.crystalcode.com/codemage/MainMenu/Home/Welcome.php

I have had some conversations with the web master at this site. I find
that they are open to articles and discussions concerning Ada. I plan
to write some Ada articles for this site, and possibly help them
maintain links to existing high quality Ada web sites.

I post this so that anyone else who wants to help me expose the
wider development world to Ada can help out.

Jim Rogers

Re: New Software Forum

[Daniel Dudley]

"Jim Rogers" <jimmaureenrogers@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:3D8356A7.9010208@worldnet.att.net...
> Yesterday I became aware of a new software forum starting up at
> http://www.crystalcode.com/codemage/MainMenu/Home/Welcome.php
> 
> I have had some conversations with the web master at this site.
> I find that they are open to articles and discussions concerning
> Ada. I plan to write some Ada articles for this site, and
> possibly help them maintain links to existing high quality Ada
> web sites.
> 
> I post this so that anyone else who wants to help me expose the
> wider development world to Ada can help out.
 
IMHO, this is a good idea, Jim. Exposing Ada on non-Ada-specific
sites will surely open the eyes of many programmers.

BTW, I found your Concurrent Programming article to be
well-written and enlightening. Thanks.

Daniel

Re: New Software Forum

[Marc Spitzer]

In article <9_2h9.18347$0p1.331293@news2.ulv.nextra.no>, Daniel Dudley wrote:
> "Jim Rogers" <jimmaureenrogers@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news:3D8356A7.9010208@worldnet.att.net...
>> Yesterday I became aware of a new software forum starting up at
>> http://www.crystalcode.com/codemage/MainMenu/Home/Welcome.php
>> 
>> I have had some conversations with the web master at this site.
>> I find that they are open to articles and discussions concerning
>> Ada. I plan to write some Ada articles for this site, and
>> possibly help them maintain links to existing high quality Ada
>> web sites.
>> 
>> I post this so that anyone else who wants to help me expose the
>> wider development world to Ada can help out.
>  
> IMHO, this is a good idea, Jim. Exposing Ada on non-Ada-specific
> sites will surely open the eyes of many programmers.
> 
> BTW, I found your Concurrent Programming article to be
> well-written and enlightening. Thanks.
> 
> Daniel

Could you make the font bigger, it is too small for me to read.  

marc

Re: New Software Forum

[Jim Rogers]

Marc Spitzer wrote:

> In article <9_2h9.18347$0p1.331293@news2.ulv.nextra.no>, Daniel Dudley wrote:
> 
>>"Jim Rogers" <jimmaureenrogers@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
>>news:3D8356A7.9010208@worldnet.att.net...
>>
>>>Yesterday I became aware of a new software forum starting up at
>>>http://www.crystalcode.com/codemage/MainMenu/Home/Welcome.php
>>>
>>>I have had some conversations with the web master at this site.
>>>I find that they are open to articles and discussions concerning
>>>Ada. I plan to write some Ada articles for this site, and
>>>possibly help them maintain links to existing high quality Ada
>>>web sites.
>>>
>>>I post this so that anyone else who wants to help me expose the
>>>wider development world to Ada can help out.
>>>
>> 
>>IMHO, this is a good idea, Jim. Exposing Ada on non-Ada-specific
>>sites will surely open the eyes of many programmers.
>>
>>BTW, I found your Concurrent Programming article to be
>>well-written and enlightening. Thanks.
>>
>>Daniel
>>
> 
> Could you make the font bigger, it is too small for me to read.  
> 
> marc
> 

Sorry about that. I understand the problem of small fonts. My eyes have
been aging faster in recent years.

I just submitted the article. The web master at the site does formatting,
including font sizes. I suggest you email the web master about the font
problem. I suspect he/she (I don't know which) will try to improve the
site as needed.

I do plan to write some more articles. Right now I am laying the ground
work for an article on common patterns for protected objects. I plan to
present the subject as patterns for monitors used for thread communication.
All my examples will be Ada protected objects. I considered providing some
Java examples also, but realized that some of the patterns vary from very
nasty to impossible in Java. I will keep the examples simple by keeping them
entirely in Ada.

Jim Rogers

Re: New Software Forum

[Jim Rogers]

Jim Rogers wrote:

> Marc Spitzer wrote:
> 
>> In article <9_2h9.18347$0p1.331293@news2.ulv.nextra.no>, Daniel Dudley 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> "Jim Rogers" <jimmaureenrogers@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
>>> news:3D8356A7.9010208@worldnet.att.net...
>>>
>>>> Yesterday I became aware of a new software forum starting up at
>>>> http://www.crystalcode.com/codemage/MainMenu/Home/Welcome.php
>>>>
>>>> I have had some conversations with the web master at this site.
>>>> I find that they are open to articles and discussions concerning
>>>> Ada. I plan to write some Ada articles for this site, and
>>>> possibly help them maintain links to existing high quality Ada
>>>> web sites.
>>>>
>>>> I post this so that anyone else who wants to help me expose the
>>>> wider development world to Ada can help out.
>>>>
>>>
>>> IMHO, this is a good idea, Jim. Exposing Ada on non-Ada-specific
>>> sites will surely open the eyes of many programmers.
>>>
>>> BTW, I found your Concurrent Programming article to be
>>> well-written and enlightening. Thanks.
>>>
>>> Daniel
>>>
>>
>> Could you make the font bigger, it is too small for me to read. 
>> marc
>>
> 
> Sorry about that. I understand the problem of small fonts. My eyes have
> been aging faster in recent years.
> 
> I just submitted the article. The web master at the site does formatting,
> including font sizes. I suggest you email the web master about the font
> problem. I suspect he/she (I don't know which) will try to improve the
> site as needed.


I just looked at the article using Netscape version 6.02.
This version allows me to resize the text up to some very large sizes.
You might find this browser useful, particularly if your eyes are
having problems like mine.

Jim Rogers

Re: New Software Forum

[CodeMage]

"Jim Rogers" <jimmaureenrogers@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:3D84E044.9020306@worldnet.att.net...
> > I just submitted the article. The web master at the site does
formatting,
> > including font sizes. I suggest you email the web master about the font
> > problem. I suspect he/she (I don't know which) will try to improve the
> > site as needed.

There's always a thin line between layout and accessibility of a web site.
Theoretically, one should never assume anything about screen resolution,
font size/color or anything else in the viewer's web browser. In the case of
the CodeMages Community web site however we have chosen to assume a certain
minimum screen resolution and an acceptable accessibility level on the most
widely used web browsers. That is, it looks good on most browsers for most
people. My apologies that for some people this means that the standard font
of the site (8pt Verdana) is too small to be considered comfortably
readable.

> I just looked at the article using Netscape version 6.02.
> This version allows me to resize the text up to some very large sizes.
> You might find this browser useful, particularly if your eyes are
> having problems like mine.

At first glance it may seem that the Internet Explorer does not allow the
same thing, because our web site basically 'forces' the layout and style of
the site through the use of cascading stylesheets. It is however fairly easy
to configure Internet Explorer to ignore these stylesheets and to choose
your own font size for instance. Just check out the Accessibility button on
the General tab in Tools | Internet Options. If you check the option "Ignore
font sizes specified on Web pages" and you adjust the font size with View |
Text Size, I'm sure you wouldn't have to switch browsers just to read Jim's
articles! :)

Kind regards,

CodeMage
The CodeMages Community

Re: New Software Forum

[Jeffrey Carter]

Jim Rogers wrote:
> I do plan to write some more articles. Right now I am laying the ground
> work for an article on common patterns for protected objects. I plan to
> present the subject as patterns for monitors used for thread communication.
> All my examples will be Ada protected objects. I considered providing some
> Java examples also, but realized that some of the patterns vary from very
> nasty to impossible in Java. I will keep the examples simple by keeping 
> them
> entirely in Ada.

This sounds like an excellent reason for mentioning Java in the article: 
"I considered providing Java examples as well as Ada, but found that 
they were extremely complicated in Java, and some of them could not be 
implemented in Java at all."

Just as long as you don't refer to yourself as "we" or "the present 
author" or such.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"Perfidious English mouse-dropping hoarders."
Monty Python & the Holy Grail

Re: New Software Forum

[Jim Rogers]

Jeffrey Carter wrote:

> This sounds like an excellent reason for mentioning Java in the article: 
> "I considered providing Java examples as well as Ada, but found that 
> they were extremely complicated in Java, and some of them could not be 
> implemented in Java at all."
> 
> Just as long as you don't refer to yourself as "we" or "the present 
> author" or such.


What? I can't mention multiple personalities?;-)

I am still working on that article. If I can find a valid way of
implementing my design patterns in Java I will present those also.
If I do mention Java in a negative way, which I do not expect to do,
it will be in the context of my own lack of ability to implement these
design patterns in that language. I expect that I will try to keep the
overall message positive, focused on design patterns, rather than
dilute the message with language quibbles.

I am now planning to leave any Java implementation(s) as an exercise
for the reader.

Jim Rogers

Re: New Software Forum

[Adrian Hoe]

CodeMage wrote:

> "Jim Rogers" <jimmaureenrogers@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news:3D84E044.9020306@worldnet.att.net...
> 
>>>I just submitted the article. The web master at the site does
>>>
> formatting,
> 
>>>including font sizes. I suggest you email the web master about the font
>>>problem. I suspect he/she (I don't know which) will try to improve the
>>>site as needed.
>>>
> 
> There's always a thin line between layout and accessibility of a web site.
> Theoretically, one should never assume anything about screen resolution,
> font size/color or anything else in the viewer's web browser. In the case of
> the CodeMages Community web site however we have chosen to assume a certain
> minimum screen resolution and an acceptable accessibility level on the most
> widely used web browsers. That is, it looks good on most browsers for most
> people. My apologies that for some people this means that the standard font
> of the site (8pt Verdana) is too small to be considered comfortably
> readable.
> 
> 
>>I just looked at the article using Netscape version 6.02.
>>This version allows me to resize the text up to some very large sizes.
>>You might find this browser useful, particularly if your eyes are
>>having problems like mine.
>>
> 
> At first glance it may seem that the Internet Explorer does not allow the
> same thing, because our web site basically 'forces' the layout and style of
> the site through the use of cascading stylesheets. It is however fairly easy
> to configure Internet Explorer to ignore these stylesheets and to choose
> your own font size for instance. Just check out the Accessibility button on
> the General tab in Tools | Internet Options. If you check the option "Ignore
> font sizes specified on Web pages" and you adjust the font size with View |
> Text Size, I'm sure you wouldn't have to switch browsers just to read Jim's
> articles! :)
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> CodeMage
> The CodeMages Community
> 
> 
> 
> 


Forget about IE. Netscape 6 can do better. Download and install 
Netscape 6. Choose View from the menu bar and click Text Size. Here, 
you can zoom in and out freely. No setup hassle. :-,)

-- 
type Dmitry is new Adrian;           -- Adrian Hoe
                                      -- http://adrianhoe.com
                                      -- Remove *nospam* to email

Re: New Software Forum

[sk]

Hi, 

> At first glance it may seem that the Internet Explorer does not 
> allow the same thing, because our web site basically 'forces' the
> layout and style of the site through the use of cascading stylesheets. 
> It is however fairly easy to configure Internet Explorer to ignore 
> these stylesheets and to choose

Interesting ! I use Netscape/Mozilla and cannot read your site. It has
been a very long time since I have had to juggle my fonts just to see
the home page of _any_ site. 

Most sites I want to visit do not have this attitude and if they do,
goodbye !

I must wonder about he "mage" part about "CodeMage" and "The CodeMages 
Community" if there is an insistance upon ME adapting to them rather 
than taking a position of least common denominator.

Hopefully you will follow the policies and practices of all the other
sites that wish to provide texts, articles and news to the public and 
adapt to potential interest rather than the skill set of the web
designer.

-- 
-------------------------------------
-- Merge vertically for real address
-------------------------------------
s n p @ t . o
 k i e k c c m
-------------------------------------

Re: New Software Forum

[Keith Thompson]

"CodeMage" <codemage@crystalcode.com> writes:
[...]
> There's always a thin line between layout and accessibility of a web site.
> Theoretically, one should never assume anything about screen resolution,
> font size/color or anything else in the viewer's web browser. In the case of
> the CodeMages Community web site however we have chosen to assume a certain
> minimum screen resolution and an acceptable accessibility level on the most
> widely used web browsers. That is, it looks good on most browsers for most
> people. My apologies that for some people this means that the standard font
> of the site (8pt Verdana) is too small to be considered comfortably
> readable.

Why do you feel the need to tell my browser how to display your text?
I've configured my browser so that text is presented, by default, at a
size I find comfortable.  Anything smaller than that is going to be
difficult for me to read.  Your choice of dark blue on light blue also
doesn't help legibility.

If I have to tweak my browser settings to read your site, I'm afraid
it's just not going to be worth my time.

As it happens, the browser I use, Opera, has a button that toggles
between author mode and user mode; when I press it, your site appears
in Adobe-Times at some reasonable size, in black on white.  Most
browsers make this more difficult, though, if not impossible.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst@cts.com  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center           <*>  <http://www.sdsc.edu/~kst>
Schroedinger does Shakespeare: "To be *and* not to be"

Re: New Software Forum

[Daniel Dudley]

"Jim Rogers" <jimmaureenrogers@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:3D85E18B.5080106@worldnet.att.net...
[snipped]
> I am now planning to leave any Java implementation(s)
> as an exercise for the reader.

Good on you, Jim! :-)

Daniel

Re: New Software Forum

[CodeMage]

"Keith Thompson" <kst@cts.com> wrote in message
news:yecit154i0y.fsf@king.cts.com...
> "CodeMage" <codemage@crystalcode.com> writes:
[snip]
> Why do you feel the need to tell my browser how to display your text?
> I've configured my browser so that text is presented, by default, at a
> size I find comfortable.  Anything smaller than that is going to be
> difficult for me to read.  Your choice of dark blue on light blue also
> doesn't help legibility.

At the risk of continuing this slightly off-topic discussion in this
newsgroup, I would like to say the following about that, which is partly in
response to "sk" as well. At least I find your posting a little bit more
open-minded and constructive in nature than the posting by "sk".

Using cascading stylesheets (CSS) is an accepted practice to effectively
separate site layout from site content. When I say that my web site 'forces'
its layout on the viewer, I meant to say that a modern web browser (Mozilla,
Netscape, Opera, IE, you name it) is inclined to follow those layout rules
as specified in those stylesheets, but is not by any means required to
follow these rules.

If I look around on the Internet, I see a large amount of web sites that use
the same technique and for a good reason: as a web site author you want to
ensure that no matter what browser is used and no matter what computer
configuration is used, the site will have a 'fair chance' to appear and
behave in exactly the same way. This means the author also needs to be
careful with the kind of HTML, the kind of scripting and the kind of layout
directives s/he uses.

I feel that every site that wants to transcend the simple 'plain text'
appearance will have parts on the screen (e.g. title bars, menu boxes,
navigation chain, sidebars) that have been designed carefully with a
particular homogenous layout in mind. Using CSS this design is recommended
to the web browser, but it may be overridden by the same web browser and
some of them handle that a little bit easier than others.

I suggest that if people still feel the need to discuss this topic further
we could take it to the proper place, i.e. the forum on the CodeMages
Community. (unless people are also having trouble reading that! :P).

Having said all that, I am going to collect all the useful suggestions that
I have read in this newsgroup and I will implement them in the next major
site redesign.

Kind regards,

CodeMage

Re: New Software Forum

[Ingo Marks]

Jim Rogers wrote:

> Yesterday I became aware of a new software forum starting up at
> http://www.crystalcode.com/codemage/MainMenu/Home/Welcome.php
> 
> I have had some conversations with the web master at this site. I find
> that they are open to articles and discussions concerning Ada. I plan
> to write some Ada articles for this site, and possibly help them
> maintain links to existing high quality Ada web sites.
> 
> I post this so that anyone else who wants to help me expose the
> wider development world to Ada can help out.
> 
> Jim Rogers

I have taken a look at 
http://www.crystalcode.com/codemage/MainMenu/Coding/Programming_Concepts/ConcurrentProgramming.php.

My first impression was that the Java code is clean and easy to read while 
the Ada code looks much too "chatty". I think most unbiased readers would 
think: "That's Ada? Oh how ugly! No thanks, I'll stay with Java.". 

Please don't misunderstand me: I reward your good work but I fear newcomers 
won't understand why Ada is so chatty compared with Java and could 
conclude: "When Ada code is so chatty Ada must be much more complicated 
than Java".

I would recommend syntax highlighting of Ada code. Syntax highlighted Ada 
looks wonderful in XEmacs (adamode). The same Ada code looks ugly if syntax 
highlighting is disabled (the code is much harder to read). There are some 
pretty good Ada to HTML source converters out there (f.ex Adabrowse). If 
colors are not wanted at Crystalcode then at least boldface and italic 
should be used to separate keywords and comments from the other source code 
(like printer output of Ada source).

I also would like to recommend to use shortcuts as most as possible. It 
is not wise to use Ada.Textio.Put_Line all the time because that deters 
newcomers who are interested in Ada. With Ada's rename command you can use 
a pretty short Print or something instead. That way you shorten the source 
and the code is much easier to read (almost Basic ;-) especially in short 
examples.

Regards,
Ingo

Re: New Software Forum

[Preben Randhol]

On Tue, 17 Sep 2002 15:00:48 +0200, Ingo Marks wrote:
> My first impression was that the Java code is clean and easy to read while 
> the Ada code looks much too "chatty". I think most unbiased readers would 
> think: "That's Ada? Oh how ugly! No thanks, I'll stay with Java.". 

What puzzels me though is :

with Ada.Calendar; use Ada.Calendar;

and then throughout:

   Start_Time   : Ada.Calendar.Time;
...
   End_Time := Ada.Calendar.Clock;

Why the use Ada.Calendar; if it is not used?

I think one can safly do:

with Ada.Text_Io; use Ada.Text_Io;

and then:

   Put_Line("Iteration" & Integer'Image(Num) &
            " Result:"  & Integer'Image(Result) &
            " Time:"    & Duration'Image(Elapsed_Time));

> Please don't misunderstand me: I reward your good work but I fear newcomers 
> won't understand why Ada is so chatty compared with Java and could 
> conclude: "When Ada code is so chatty Ada must be much more complicated 
> than Java".

I remember first time I saw Ada it reminded me of Pascal that we had to
use at the University (for the course everybody had to take in programming).
So I didn't like the way Ada looked and not knowing it's advantages and
thinking that C/C++/Java were the "only" languages I abandoned Ada. But
then some months later I reconsidered and the only regret I have is that
I should have discovered Ada earlier.

> I would recommend syntax highlighting of Ada code. Syntax highlighted Ada 

Yes! At least boldify the keywords.

Preben

Re: New Software Forum

[Ingo Marks]

Preben Randhol wrote:

>    Put_Line("Iteration" & Integer'Image(Num) &
>             " Result:"  & Integer'Image(Result) &
>             " Time:"    & Duration'Image(Elapsed_Time));

Even shorter (using a suitable string package):

Put_Line ("Iteration" & Num &
          " Result:"  & Result &
          " Time:"    & Duration'Image(Elapsed_Time));

Regards,
Ingo

Re: New Software Forum

[Ingo Marks]

Ingo Marks wrote:

or even this way :-)
 
Put_Line ("Iteration" & Num &
          " Result:"  & Result &
          " Time:"    & Elapsed_Time);

Re: New Software Forum

[Preben Randhol]

On Tue, 17 Sep 2002 18:41:43 +0200, Ingo Marks wrote:
> Ingo Marks wrote:
> 
> or even this way :-)
>  
> Put_Line ("Iteration" & Num &
>           " Result:"  & Result &
>           " Time:"    & Elapsed_Time);

Well now we are borderlining the poor readability. In the previous
version I could at least know that Elapsed_Time was a Duration here it
can be anything. This is one of the great features of Ada that it is so
self-documenting.

Preben

Re: New Software Forum

[Ingo Marks]

Preben Randhol wrote:

> On Tue, 17 Sep 2002 18:41:43 +0200, Ingo Marks wrote:
>> Ingo Marks wrote:
>> 
>> or even this way :-)
>>  
>> Put_Line ("Iteration" & Num &
>>           " Result:"  & Result &
>>           " Time:"    & Elapsed_Time);
> 
> Well now we are borderlining the poor readability. In the previous
> version I could at least know that Elapsed_Time was a Duration here it
> can be anything. This is one of the great features of Ada that it is so
> self-documenting.

This short style is suitable for short examples only. In real life one 
should use the more declarative version, of course.

Regards,
Ingo

Re: New Software Forum

[Simon Wright]

Ingo Marks <nospam_adv@region-nord.de> writes:

> This short style is suitable for short examples only. In real life
> one should use the more declarative version, of course.

People tend to follow the style they come across first -- religiously,
sometimes!

Re: New Software Forum

[Ingo Marks]

Ingo Marks wrote:

> There are some pretty good Ada to HTML source converters out there (f.ex
> Adabrowse). 

Webcpp: http://freshmeat.net/projects/webcpp/?topic_id=71%2C847%2C861%2C867

Highlight: http://freshmeat.net/projects/highlight/?topic_id=849

Code2HTML: http://freshmeat.net/projects/code2html/?topic_id=96%2C849

AdaBrowse: http://home.tiscalinet.ch/t_wolf/tw/ada95/adabrowse/

AdaDoc: http://freshmeat.net/projects/adadoc/?topic_id=45

Re: New Software Forum

[Stephen Leake]

Preben Randhol <randhol+news@pvv.org> writes:

> On Tue, 17 Sep 2002 18:41:43 +0200, Ingo Marks wrote:
> > Ingo Marks wrote:
> > 
> > or even this way :-)
> >  
> > Put_Line ("Iteration" & Num &
> >           " Result:"  & Result &
> >           " Time:"    & Elapsed_Time);
> 
> Well now we are borderlining the poor readability. In the previous
> version I could at least know that Elapsed_Time was a Duration here it
> can be anything. This is one of the great features of Ada that it is so
> self-documenting.

It has _never_ been a feature of Ada that the type of an object was
obvious at the point of the use of the object. Consider:

A := B + C;

Is A an Integer, Cartestian Vector, or directed graph? You have no
idea. However, any reasonable Ada IDE will provide a way to popup the
definition of A, so you can see the type.

In fact, the fact that there is no type information cluttering the
statement is a feature. Compare it to the use of "Hungarian notation"
in some Windows code.


My only problem with Ingo's suggestion is that it is a pain to provide
the "appropriate string package", that defines all of the necessary
variations of "&". That's why I wrote Auto_Text_IO
(http://users.erols.com/leakstan/Stephe/Ada/auto_text_io.html); it
writes a similar package for me.

-- 
-- Stephe

Re: New Software Forum

[Preben Randhol]

On 18 Sep 2002 09:04:39 -0400, Stephen Leake wrote:
> It has _never_ been a feature of Ada that the type of an object was
> obvious at the point of the use of the object. Consider:
> 
> A := B + C;
> 
> Is A an Integer, Cartestian Vector, or directed graph? You have no
> idea. However, any reasonable Ada IDE will provide a way to popup the
> definition of A, so you can see the type.
> 
> In fact, the fact that there is no type information cluttering the
> statement is a feature. Compare it to the use of "Hungarian notation"
> in some Windows code.

Hmm yes you are right. The problem though is that if this is presented
to a beginner he will wonder why he cannot Put_Line his Float or some
other custome type in the same way without realising that you need a new
Text_IO package.

> My only problem with Ingo's suggestion is that it is a pain to provide
> the "appropriate string package", that defines all of the necessary
> variations of "&". That's why I wrote Auto_Text_IO
> (http://users.erols.com/leakstan/Stephe/Ada/auto_text_io.html); it
> writes a similar package for me.

I find myself always using 'Image as I don't bother with the hazzel of
remembering to with Float_IO, Integer_IO etc... so 'Image is faster. :-)

Preben

Re: New Software Forum

[Kevin Cline]

Preben Randhol <randhol+news@pvv.org> wrote in message news:<slrnaoeprn.vb.randhol+news@kiuk0156.chembio.ntnu.no>...
> On Tue, 17 Sep 2002 18:41:43 +0200, Ingo Marks wrote:
> > Ingo Marks wrote:
> > 
> > or even this way :-)
> >  
> > Put_Line ("Iteration" & Num &
> >           " Result:"  & Result &
> >           " Time:"    & Elapsed_Time);
> 
> Well now we are borderlining the poor readability. In the previous
> version I could at least know that Elapsed_Time was a Duration here it
> can be anything. This is one of the great features of Ada that it is so
> self-documenting.

This version is easier to read and easier to maintain.  I don't need to
know the type of Elapsed_Time to understand this statement, and the
compiler already knows the type and shouldn't need to be told again.
Repeating the type here reduces readability and makes the code more
sensitive to a change in the type of Elapsed_Time.

Re: New Software Forum

[Ingo Marks]

Kevin Cline wrote:

> Preben Randhol <randhol+news@pvv.org> wrote in message
> news:<slrnaoeprn.vb.randhol+news@kiuk0156.chembio.ntnu.no>...
>> On Tue, 17 Sep 2002 18:41:43 +0200, Ingo Marks wrote:
>> > Ingo Marks wrote:
>> > 
>> > or even this way :-)
>> >  
>> > Put_Line ("Iteration" & Num &
>> >           " Result:"  & Result &
>> >           " Time:"    & Elapsed_Time);
>> 
>> Well now we are borderlining the poor readability. In the previous
>> version I could at least know that Elapsed_Time was a Duration here it
>> can be anything. This is one of the great features of Ada that it is so
>> self-documenting.
> 
> This version is easier to read and easier to maintain.  I don't need to
> know the type of Elapsed_Time to understand this statement, and the
> compiler already knows the type and shouldn't need to be told again.
> Repeating the type here reduces readability and makes the code more
> sensitive to a change in the type of Elapsed_Time.

The compiler doesn't need extra specification but an unbiased reader of 
your source would appreciate it.

For myself I always use the short form for integer (or ranges of it) only. 
So I would prefer

Put_Line ("Iteration" & Num &
          " Result:"  & Result &
          " Time:"    & Duration'Image(Elapsed_Time));

If it is inevitable that the type of Elapsed_Time may change in future then 
it could be good idea to define a subtype:

subtype My_Duration is Duration;

Put_Line ("Iteration" & Num &
          " Result:"  & Result &
          " Time:"    & My_Duration'Image(Elapsed_Time));

If you have to change the type you just need to change one line (hopefully).

Regards,
Ingo

Re: New Software Forum

[Richard Riehle]

Preben Randhol wrote:

> I find myself always using 'Image as I don't bother with the hazzel of
> remembering to with Float_IO, Integer_IO etc... so 'Image is faster. :-)

The problem with 'Image is that you get scientific notation for
floating point, and spaces in front of integers, and have no way
to present the data in upper and lower case for enumerated
types.

Richard Riehle