From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,38fc011071df5a27 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-06-01 21:51:44 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.tele.dk!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!proxad.net!usenet-fr.net!enst.fr!not-for-mail From: "Robert C. Leif" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: RE: Ideas for Ada 200X Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2003 21:51:12 -0700 Organization: ENST, France Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: marvin.enst.fr Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: avanie.enst.fr 1054529502 99817 137.194.161.2 (2 Jun 2003 04:51:42 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@enst.fr NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 04:51:42 +0000 (UTC) To: Return-Path: X-Envelope-From: rleif@rleif.com X-Envelope-To: X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 11.0.4920 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 Thread-Index: AcMm+eAxgroDhaIfS6CrVLrZMRSK6gBxlSDw In-Reply-To: <3ED7C8C5.3070902@cogeco.ca> X-BeenThere: comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: comp.lang.ada mail to news gateway List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:38301 Date: 2003-06-01T21:51:12-07:00 Since Ada lacks the ultimate parent types of some its types, such as = numbers and characters, would it be possible to create generic versions of these types. For instance, a new package Generic_Types could contain Number, Character, and String. Obviously, it would be utterly inadvisable to overload the names of any existing types.=20 Generic_Types.Number would be a place holder for any type of number including all of the versions of integers, floats, fixed points, and decimals. Generic_Types.Character would be a place holder for 8, 16, = and 32 bit character or, as I would prefer, any size character with the present = 8 and 16 and future 32 bit versions being instantiations. A generic = string, unbounded, or bounded string could be instantiated with any of these characters or eventually with a character set consisting of a specified group of character with all having the same number of bits. I have a special interest in 4 bit characters, since they can = efficiently encode DNA and other nucleic acid sequences. In terms of numbers, it = might be possible to create a generic saturated math package and other tools = of similar interest. Bob Leif =20