Integers and Mathematical Correctness

["chris.danx" <chris.danx@ntlworld.com>]

Hi,

To most this may seem insignificant but I'm more mathematically minded and I
just found something out.  Many programming languages don't implement
division properly!

For example -3/2 should be -2 not -1, with a remainder 1 not -1.

I'm trying to implement integer division the "proper" way (according to
Euclid), just for fun (and to provide a mathematically correct package for
anyone who gets annoyed by this).


The problem is this...

   type c_integer is new integer;

   function "/" (a, b : c_integer) return c_integer is
   begin
      return standard."/" (a, b); -- simple test of override
   end "/";

The line > standard."/" (a, b) doesn't work!  I check the RM and the "/" for
integers is defined in standard, but it's not accepting it (this is just a
simple stub, it doesn't implement division properly for negatives yet!!!
The div is correct for non-negatives though).

Note: this works

xxx : c_integer := c_integer(-3)/c_integer(2);

when the above function is commented out!

What small detail am I missing this time?

Thanks,
Chris