Re: Q: memory management

[dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)]

Jon Anthony said:

"I don't know what "storage_array" is, but don't worry about the
space for bounds.  It's all taken care of for you."

Once again, consulting another secret source of information, this time
the Ada reference manual :-) we find

13.7.1 The Package System.Storage_Elements

                              Static Semantics

1   The following language-defined library package exists:

2   package System.Storage_Elements is
       pragma Preelaborate(System.Storage_Elements);

3      type Storage_Offset is range implementation-defined;


4      subtype Storage_Count is Storage_Offset range 0..Storage_Offset'Last;

5      type Storage_Element is mod implementation-defined;
       for Storage_Element'Size use Storage_Unit;
       type Storage_Array is array
         (Storage_Offset range <>) of aliased Storage_Element;
       for Storage_Array'Component_Size use Storage_Unit;


and indeed the original questioner was quite right to think in terms of
using Storage_Array for allocating raw storage, that is EXACTLY what
it is intended for.

P.S. I find it very useful to have a straight ASCII version of the RM around
that can instantly and easily be searched for the occurrence of a string
like this. It's useful for finding something you don't know, or, as in this
case, quickly tracking down a reference to something you do know.