Re: Does Ada have macros ?

[hbaker@netcom.com (Henry Baker)]

In article <D5y2J1.JAB@inmet.camb.inmet.com>, mg@asp.camb.inmet.com (Mitch
Gart) wrote:

> B Catlin (bcatlin@aol.com) wrote:
> : I don't seem to remember Ada 83 having a macro capability, does Ada 95 ? 
> : If not, why not ?
> 
> No macros, either in Ada 83 or Ada 95.  General text-substitution
> macros like those in the C preprocessor are thought to be too 
> unsafe.  For example, a macro can refer to a variable X and 
> depending where the macro is expanded X may or may not be visible.
> Ada programs are supposed to be readable and in many cases C
> macros are one of the main culprits in producing unreadable C
> programs.
> 
> In C macros can be used (and mis-used) in lots of ways but three legitimate
> uses are for defining compile-time constants, types, and inline functions.
> Ada has all three of these facilities.

Many implementations of 'generics' are essentially macro-expansions.

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