Re: N best things about Ada?

["Jeffrey R. Carter" <spam.jrcarter.not@spam.acm.org>]

On 07/13/2010 09:18 AM, Warren wrote:
>
> There is nothing better than early bug detection!

To which we can add completeness checks for case statements and record aggregates.

In fact, aggregates in general. I take them for granted now, but I can remember 
using languages that didn't have them.

I remember watching the videos of the "Ada Launch" (Ada 80, 1980 Dec 10) and 
Barnes presenting a generic discrete (bit-mapped) set package. That was quite a 
revelation for me. I had read about, but not really understood, information 
hiding; seeing packages was the light-bulb event for me. When I saw the use of 
an array aggregate as a "literal" actual parameter for the make-set function I 
realized that this language was more expressive than anything I'd used.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"When Roman engineers built a bridge, they had to stand under it
while the first legion marched across. If programmers today
worked under similar ground rules, they might well find
themselves getting much more interested in Ada!"
Robert Dewar
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