Re: newbie Q: storage management

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

Jon said

<<Yes, this is definitely true.  But, you also have to recognize that if
  something is not specifically called out, most people won't even think
  it is _possible_.  So, it would not even occur to them that they could
  request it.  How many customers do you think would even think of
  asking for something like the DSA from their _compiler vendor_ if it
  weren't called out as it is??>>

If no customers would even think of asking for something, it does not
*begin* to belong in the standard. However, DSA is of course not in this
category. Lots of Ada users know very well they need this kind of
capability, and there have been several more or less successful attempts
to provide this capability. The DSA did not appear out of the blue in
Ada 95, it appeared because there was indeed a consensus recognition that
this was an important problem that needed a solution.

The issue was not whether the facility was needed, the answer to that for
a significant number of applications is of course yes, and you can be sure
customers know it. The issue is whether enough was known to usefully
standardize it.

Sure there may be customers who don't know all the details of what they
want or need, and part of the job of a vendor is to help them figure out
these details, but in my experience, 
Jon's scenario of clueless customers who don't have any idea of what
is going on is certainly not the norm!