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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Path: buffer1.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!border2.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder01.blueworldhosting.com!feeder.erje.net!1.eu.feeder.erje.net!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Jeffrey R. Carter" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Ada design bug or GNAT bug? Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2015 10:42:58 -0700 Organization: Also freenews.netfront.net; news.tornevall.net; news.eternal-september.org Message-ID: References: <4lrj5zz2u2z.u8x9cf7xzic6.dlg@40tude.net> <58f64fa9-7d0b-44dd-870c-77d9afcb82c4@googlegroups.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2015 17:41:40 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="a3855fbfe1a666be9aefba0563039ed5"; logging-data="5488"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+XxfYISaohrrhc1M1l7YzyQ/HPjkQ9uug=" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.7.0 In-Reply-To: <58f64fa9-7d0b-44dd-870c-77d9afcb82c4@googlegroups.com> Cancel-Lock: sha1:LkfomuSWiaxJUFTNefswgx6GAFQ= Xref: number.nntp.giganews.com comp.lang.ada:193744 Date: 2015-06-23T10:42:58-07:00 List-Id: Shark8 wrote : > > Yes, anonymous accesses ARE pretty bad. > But this does bring up the question: what missteps have been made in Ada's design? In addition to those listed by Shark8, I would add: * Combining the concepts of ":=" and "=": private types have both by default, and limited types have neither. * Private parts, rather than full views in the body. * Anonymous types. * Features for programming by extension (tagged types and child pkgs that extend their parents). * Introducing protected types with arbitrary and unnecessary restrictions on what they can do, rather than formalizing the passive-task concept. And probably others I can't think of right now. -- Jeff Carter "When Bell Labs were invited to evaluate C against the DoD requirements [for Ada], they said that there was no chance of C meeting the requirements of readability, safety, etc. for which we were striving, and that it should not even be on the list of evaluated languages." William Whitaker 116