Re: conversion

[aek@vib.usr.pu.ru (Alexander Kopilovitch)]

Preben Randhol wrote:

> > Certainly, a chorus tells you that Ada is not C, but what about Pascal, which
> > has much more resemblance with Ada? Pascal isn't C, it does not rely heavily
> > upon pointers, but at the same time it has quite good and usable strings.
>
>Oh I remembered when we had to use Pascal in some introductory
>programming course at the university that there was several machines
>crashing due to that the students didn't get the pointers correctly.

Is it all you remember about Pascal? If so that, perhaps, you should not be
much surprised when other people associate Ada with Ariane 5 crash only.

Anyway, why you switched to the Pascal pointers from the theme of strings?
Pascal is not C, and Pascal strings aren't naturally associated with pointers.

Finally, as you mention those dangerous pointers in Pascal, let me quote
the "Programming in Ada 95" by John Barnes (2nd edition, 1998), Chapter 10,
Access Types, p.171 :

"Playing with pointers is like playing with fire. Fire is perhaps the most
important tool known to man. Carefully used, fire brings enormous benefits,
but when fire gets out of control, disaster strikes. Pointers have similar
characteristics but are well tamed in the form of access types in Ada."



Alexander Kopilovitch                      aek@vib.usr.pu.ru
Saint-Petersburg
Russia