Re: Ada access vs C/C++ pointers and references

["Martin Dowie" <martin.dowie@btopenworld.com>]

"Ludovic Brenta" <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org> wrote in message
news:87657fso10.fsf@insalien.org...
> (Keith H Duggar) writes:
> > Third, if Ada does not provide arithmetic pointers do you
> > know if this has played any part in acceptance of Ada for
> > systems programming or efficiency critical applications?
>
> Ada does provide for pointer arithmetic, but the fact that one can
> avoid pointers altogether for most things does help with verification
> and certification of safety-critical software.  Pointer arithmetic is
> usually confined to a few low-level device drivers.
>
> (I work in avionics)

I also work in avionics (have done for 16 years now) and I've
_never_ needed pointer arithmatic - there's usually a 'better'
Ada way that produces acceptably fast results. But YMMV :-)

Cheers

-- Martin