Re: Context syntax proposals, using "with", withing "use" etc.

[Stephen Leake <stephen_leake@acm.org>]

"Alexandre E. Kopilovitch" <aek@VB1162.spb.edu> writes:

> Second, there is still a displeasure here, which can even become a
> hindrance in some circumsrances: when there are many context clauses
> for a package, they just occupy too big part of the text; and
> because those context clauses are necessarily at the beginning of
> each package, they intersperse and clutter the whole program, which
> makes reading more difficult (even if each package has its own
> window) - if one tried not to study thoroughly, but just to read and
> catch the general method\logic\approach of the program.

Hmm. I'd say this is also a text editor problem; the editor should
provide an easy way to put the cursor on the "package" keyword,
skipping the context clause. My Emacs Ada-mode does that. That's one
advantage of Ada over C; there is a clear end to the context clause.

> Therefore I think that explicit separatation of the whole context from the
> package's specs as well as from the package's body would be much more
> consistent and useful step (than all possible manipulation with "with" and
> "use" only) for the purpose. I mean something like that:
> 
>   package MyDream context is
>   -- or package context MyDream is  - if you like it better
>     with ...;
>     with ...; use ...;
>     ...
>   end MyDream;
> 
>   package MyDream is
>     ...
>   end MyDream;
> 
>   package body MyDream context is
>     with ...;
>     with ...; use ...;
>     ...
>   end MyDream;
> 
>   package body MyDream is
>     ...
>   end MyDream;

I don't see how this reduces clutter, or total size.  The text editor
still needs to be able to skip the context clause.


-- 
-- Stephe