From: dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)
Subject: Re: Aligning record components
Date: 1997/07/08
Date: 1997-07-08T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <dewar.868372427@merv> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 01bc8b3a$d9161b80$7175b89e@Ken'slaptop.ssd.loral.com
kgamble says
<<I do not know why GNAT does not allow 2-byte alignments. There are still
plenty of 16-bit target machines that Ada supports.
>>
Of course GNAT supports 2-byte alignments on a target where 2-byte alignment is natural. Alignment
requirements are highly target dependent!
GNAT does allow misaligned integers, because this is a widely used feature.
An Ada 95 compiler is not required to allow *any* misalignment, and GNAT does not
bother to allow misaligned floating-point for two reasons
One techncail
a) the cost of unaligned fpt access is MUCH higher than unaligned integer access
on a typical machine
One non-techncial
b) none of our customers have ever indicated a desire for this feature
It would not be that hard to do, but would be non-zero work. You could of course build a new configuration file with diminished alignment requirements.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1997-07-08 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1997-07-08 0:00 Aligning record components kgamble
1997-07-08 0:00 ` Robert Dewar [this message]
1997-07-08 0:00 ` Tucker Taft
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